


Coffin

by KieraElieson



Series: Coffin Universe [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I May be mean to Virgil but his friends love him, Implied/Referenced Torture, Torture, Vampire AU, Vampire Hunters, Vampire!Virgil, in which I am very mean to Virgil, many hugs, treating vampires as less than human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 69,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21732709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Roman, Patton, and Logan are vampire hunters... almost. There’s just one last test. Keep a real vampire for a year.“A year?!” Roman yelled. “We have to wait a whole year?! I thought we were almost done!”But when they open the coffin, will they really be able to go through with this?
Relationships: Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton
Series: Coffin Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907590
Comments: 1307
Kudos: 1047





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Have a good ol’ Vampire Virgil story! I’ve got ideas enough for at least another chapter and a half, if I get around to writing them. 
> 
> A warning: I’m mean to Virgil at the start here. I intend to be nicer as time goes on, but right at the start he deals with some pretty harsh stuff.

Patton was only slightly surprised when the package arrived, and it turned out to be a coffin covered in thick cloth. 

Roman was very excited, even helping the delivery men to bring it inside and set it on the living room floor. 

Logan seemed excited as well, though he expressed his in a different way. He was the first to find the packet on the cover of the coffin. 

_ ‘As you know, this is the final test.’  _ Logan read aloud.  _ ‘Inside the coffin is a live vampire.  _ **_Do not_ ** _ open the coffin until you’ve studied the instructions carefully. This test takes place over the course of one (1) year.’ _

“A year?!” Roman yelled. “We have to wait a whole year?! I thought we were almost done!”

Logan continued reading.  _ ‘There are four possible outcomes to this test. The first is that you let the vampire escape and cannot recapture it or kill it. In that event, you will be put through the entire training course again.’ _

“Well, obviously that’s not happening. We know better than that.” Roman said. 

_ ‘The second is that, for whatever reason, you find it necessary to kill the vampire. In that event, you will need to retake the final test.’ _

Roman frowned, but didn’t comment. 

_ ‘The third outcome is that you keep the vampire safely subdued for the duration of the test. In that event, you will have passed the test, and will become hunters.’ _

“Wait, if we pass the test on three, what’s four?” Roman asked. 

“I am still reading,” Logan said.  _ ‘The final outcome is that you train the vampire such that it can be useful in hunting. In that event, you may keep the vampire in your team as you become hunters. If you wish to pursue this outcome, there are resources which detail previously effective methods of training.’ _

“I guess it would depend on whether or not this vampire actually wants to help though, wouldn’t it?” Patton said. 

_ ‘The vampire now in your possession has not eaten in the last 2-4 weeks, dependent on your location and shipping speed. Many vampires become more violent when hungry, so don’t release it until it has been fed.” _

“How are we supposed to do that?” Roman muttered, looking at the coffin. 

“It appears that the rest of the packet is situational instructions,” Logan said. “I can read it more quickly silently, and will give it to you when I’m done.” He sat down on the couch, flipping through the pages of the packet. 

Patton joined Roman in staring at the coffin. He knocked softly on the lid. There was a very slight rustle from the inside, but no knock back. 

“I think we can open it,” Patton said. “If it doesn’t knock back I don’t think it can move.”

“Or it could just be stubborn.” Roman countered. 

“Either way, we should first get some blood,” Logan said. 

“I can give some, I haven’t given in quite a while.” Patton offered. 

“It is suggested to give no more than 6 oz at a time,” Logan said, paraphrasing from what he was reading. “This amount will reduce violent tendencies, while not allowing the vampire to reach its full strength, keeping it more docile.”

Patton nodded. 

  * •^*^••



Pain and hunger. That was all his life was. All it had been for forever it seemed. It couldn’t really be forever, since he could still remember before, but it felt like it. 

He had only recently been turned, just two years, and wasn’t even really accepted quite, but it still felt like his heart had been dragged out of his chest and crushed when he had seen the hunters kill his sire. He had tried to hide, but they pulled him out and clamped manacles over his wrists that burnt as if they were glowing red. 

He’d been muzzled, and blindfolded, and put into a box with cuffs around his wrists and ankles, and left to rot. Only once had they opened the box. They’d taken off the muzzle, and given him a pitifully small amount of blood. Then they’d put the muzzle on again, ignoring all his pleas, and he’d been left in the box alone in the dark again. 

Even if he’d been unrestrained, or had the strength to move, his wrists and ankles hurt too badly to try to respond to the knock on the coffin. His heart was beating wildly, despite not having much blood to move around, absolutely thrilled that the coffin might be opened. Even if it was just short again. He’d heard the instructions. All they would have to do was leave him here. It would be the easiest way to pass their test. But he hoped desperately that they wouldn’t. 

He’d do anything to get out, and he’d do even more to stay out. He do their training thing. He’d even help them hunt other vampires. 

Please. Please just open the coffin.

  * •^*^••



It didn’t take long to draw blood, but Patton still shuddered and wished it to be over. He didn’t like having to see it. He kept his head turned away until Roman told him it was done. 

“I’ll give it the blood, and you can open the coffin and make sure it doesn’t try to attack, ok?”

Patton nodded.

He and Roman knelt by one side of the coffin, and he unlatched the lid and swung it open. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, maybe an older vampire, maybe one that looked meaner, definitely he had expected the only restraints to be made of rope. Not this. The vampire looked to be just sixteen, and flinched as soon as the lid was lifted. It was blindfolded, despite already being in a dark coffin, and muzzled, and…

“Are these silver?” Patton said in a horrified whisper. 

Roman turned to look at him, his eyes just as wide. “Maybe it’s really dangerous.” His voice was also a hoarse whisper. 

The vampire shook its head, and its hands started trembling, bringing Patton’s gaze back to the raw, open, weeping flesh under and around the manacles holding his limbs down.

“Don’t,” Roman said, putting an arm out to stop Patton from moving forward. “It could just be trying to manipulate us.”

“I cannot see from my position, but what Roman says is indeed likely.” Logan chimed in. 

The vampire shook its head again, and Patton saw a tear slip out from under the blindfold and run down into its hair. 

“It-- no, he’s hurting. I don’t care if it’s manipulation, I’m not leaving him in here.” Patton said firmly. “There are other things we can do to keep him contained.”

The vampire’s chest shook, and more tears ran out of the blindfold. The broken sounds coming from behind the muzzle pierced directly into Patton’s heart. He leaned forward and lifted the vampire’s head slightly, so he could undo the blindfold and the muzzle. He pulled the blindfold off gently, despite the fact that it was rather stuck to the vampire’s face. He caught a brief glimpse of brown eyes, before they were shut tight against the light of the room. Then he lifted the muzzle. He was more quick with this one, aware that the vampire could still lunge forward and try to bite at his hands. 

“Thank you,” the vampire said, his voice hoarse and gravely. More tears slipped out from his closed eyes.

Roman found the key, and started undoing the manacles. Logan got up and stood behind them, also watching. Patton took the abandoned bag of blood, pointedly ignoring his stomach, which threatened to toss all of his lunch into the ground, and held it to the vampire’s mouth. 

The vampire bit down on it, and the bag was drained in less than a minute. Roman had freed the vampire’s legs as well now, and the vampire was trying to open his eyes. 

“Feeling any better?” Patton asked. 

The vampire nodded, trying to look at him, but his eyes kept twitching shut. 

“Now that it’s fed, we need to put the muzzle back on.” Logan insisted, handing it to Patton. 

Patton set a hand on the vampire’s chest first, so he could stop him if he tried to sit up, and then laid the muzzle over his face. The vampire didn’t struggle a bit, and even lifted his head for Patton to tie the back of the muzzle back on. He was entirely unlike any vampire Patton had ever come across. And he had come across quite a few by now. 

“You can sit up now if you want,” Patton offered. 

The vampire slowly and painfully pulled himself upright. He hunched forward, tucking his hands by his stomach. 

“What do we do now?” Roman asked. 

“Seeing as the ideal outcome to this test requires the vampire to be complicit, I would suggest that we first determine whether or not it is willing to be trained.”

The vampire nodded. Patton suddenly felt bad that they were talking about him and not to him. 

“You are willing to be trained?” Logan clarified. 

The vampire nodded again. 

“Are you aware of what all that entails?”

The vampire shook his head slowly. 

“Then what if we tell you to do something you don’t want to?”

The vampire hesitated, and then tapped the muzzle. 

“You’ll bite us?!” Roman asked. 

The vampire shook his head violently, shrinking down into himself. He tapped the muzzle again, softly. 

“Oh!” Patton got it. He ran downstairs, and picked up a different muzzle. This one was made of bars, instead of solid leather, and left more room for a jaw to move, while still protecting against biting. He ran back upstairs. “How about this? Then you can talk to us.”

The vampire nodded, and stuck his head out when Logan reached for the straps of the other muzzle. Logan was practiced at this, trading muzzles too quickly to allow for any kind of biting. But the vampire didn’t try to do anything, just sat there, tipping his head forward to where Logan could reach it easily. 

“There. Now, will you explain yourself?” Logan said. 

“I’ll do whatever you want,” the vampire said, his voice rough, but low and quiet. “Just please don’t lock me in again.”

He looked away, as if he couldn’t stand to hear their answer. 

Patton couldn’t say no. He couldn’t. The poor thing was still teary, his face all red and blotchy, and was still trembling, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. 

“Don’t worry, kiddo, we’re not locking you in that thing again.”

The sheer gratitude shining out of his eyes was enough to make Patton tear up. 

“Pat!”

“You can’t promise that,” Logan said. 

The vampire wilted, his shaking increasing. Patton glared at Logan. At least, as much of a glare as his face was capable of. 

Logan ran a hand over his face. “Fine, can we agree that we’ll let it stay out, but only if it’s perfectly compliant?”

Patton nodded, and so did Roman. 

“Very well, that is the deal then. Now, I have several questions.”

“Why don’t you ask them, and I’ll make dinner. You can fill me in after.” Patton offered. 

“That sounds wonderful! I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.” Roman said. 

  * •^*^••



As the nice one left, Virgil shook just a bit more. He knew they were all hunters, even the nice one, but he had felt almost safe with him in the room. 

“Do you have a name?” One of the hunters asked. 

“Virgil.” He looked up, meeting eyes with the hunter. “Do you?”

“Of course I do, my name’s Roman.”

“And my name is Logan. The third is named Patton.”

Virgil nodded. 

“How old are you, and when were you turned?” Logan asked, readying a pen to write in a notebook he had. 

“I’m eighteen, I was turned two years ago.”

Logan nodded. “How do vampires age after being turned?”

Virgil was confused. Surely, if he were going to be a hunter, he knew the answer to this question already. Oh, it must be a test. “We age very slowly, to an extent, and then it stops.”

“So would you say that your mind is closer to eighteen or sixteen?”

“Eighteen.”

“Have you ever hurt a human?” Roman asked. 

Virgil turned to look at him, and immediately regretted it. He couldn’t lie. Couldn’t chance it. But— he couldn’t say yes. If the look on Roman’s face was any indication, he’d get shoved into the coffin and buried alive. He wasn’t this mad earlier! What had Virgil done wrong?

“Answer me! Have you ever hurt a human?”

Virgil slowly nodded, dreading what might come next. 

“Have you killed?” Logan asked. 

Virgil shook his head quickly, utterly relieved to be able to answer truthfully. He looked between the two of them, trying to judge whether they believed him. 

“I didn’t. I swear I didn’t.”

“Then why did you hurt them?” Roman asked. 

“I di— I was hungry, and I didn’t know how to—how to take from them without hurting them. They wouldn’t stay still—“

“Don’t you dare blame this on them!” Roman yelled. 

Virgil flinched back hard. “ ‘m sorry.”

Logan set a hand on Roman’s shoulder, and Roman looked away. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt them,” Virgil said quietly. 

Roman looked back at him, his face full of disbelief and rage. He stood up and walked away. 

Virgil flinched when Logan spoke again. “I have more questions.”

Virgil nodded. 

  * •^*^••



Logan had gotten more clear answers from Virgil than he had ever expected. Most of them he knew, of course, but this data set was colored by a personal experience, and as such, painted a different picture of vampire life than he had seen before. 

Patton had called him for dinner, but first he had to figure out what to do with Virgil. There was a cell in the basement that was built to hold vampires, but he wasn’t certain, with how Virgil was shaking, that leading him down stairs would end well. 

In the end, though, he wasn’t seeing another option. Other than shut him back in the coffin, which he had no reason to do. 

Patton came into the living room looking for him. “Logan? Are you ready to eat?”

“I am, but I’m uncertain as to what we will do with Virgil.”

Patton gasped, turning to the vampire with a bright smile. “Your name is Virgil?”

Virgil went all wide eyed, which meant emotions again, and nodded. 

“Well, I know you can’t eat, but would you like to come sit with us while we eat, Virgil?”

Logan stepped in before Virgil could respond. “I’m not certain that that would be a good idea. Roman is rather… incensed at the moment.”

Patton hmmd. “That’s true. Alright, I’ve got a place. Come on, kiddo.”

Virgil slowly stood up, shaking the whole way, though it didn’t seem to be from fear anymore. Patton grabbed a pillow from the couch and walked into the kitchen, slowly enough that Virgil could follow. He set the pillow in the corner. On one side of Virgil would be a wall, and on the other side was a large cabinet. Patton would be able to see him easily from his chair at the table, and Logan would be able to see him partially, but Roman wouldn’t see him unless he turned to look. 

“You can sit here. Just a minute.” Patton left the room and came back with a small toy. “Here, you can have this if you get bored.”

Virgil accepted the toy with gleaming eyes, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, kiddo!” Patton said happily. 

Logan knew then that Virgil had better join their group. Patton had all but adopted him in his heart, although thankfully he didn’t seem to forget that he was a vampire, and he’d be heartbroken if Virgil had to leave. 

Patton called Roman down, who noticed Virgil, of course, but didn’t comment. Dinner passed peaceably, if a little awkwardly. 

  * •^*^••



After Logan and Roman left, Patton stood up to take his dishes to the kitchen. 

“Wanna help me clean up from dinner, Virgil?”

Virgil looked up from where he had been entranced by the little fidget cube. “Yes, I’ll help.”

Patton smiled at him, and the two cleaned up very quickly. Even if Virgil was shaky, he was still trying his best. 

“Alright, I’ll take you down to your room now, ok?”

Virgil nodded. He held out the toy. “Can…?” His question petered out. 

“If you like it, you can keep it.” Patton said, feeling like he could live on the light that shone out of Virgil’s eyes. 

He helped Virgil down the rickety stairs to the basement. It was a large basement, with a big comfy seating area and lots of stuff spread out over the coffee table. It was a bit of a mess. On one end of the room, bars went across, splitting it off into two tiny little rooms. Patton opened the door to one of the little rooms and Virgil went right inside. 

Inside the little rooms was a mattress on the ground, and blankets and a pillow, but not much else. The bars around the door handle and around the lock had silver plating on them, but the rest of the bars were made of steel, thick enough that a vampire shouldn’t be able to bend or break them. 

Patton shut the door and locked it. “Do you want me to leave the light on? Or I can just leave this lamp on? Or it can be dark.”

“The lamp. Please.”

Patton turned the lamp on and then went back upstairs, clicking off the basement light. The basement door, as well, was fortified. So that even if a vampire managed to break out of the cell, they wouldn’t be able to get out of the basement. 

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! So many people loved chapter one! I am shocked, and flustered, and just so so happy!
> 
> Here’s chapter two! I’ve got a good idea for chapter three, though it may be just a little shorter, we’ll see, but I’ll have to think for a while to keep the ball rolling after that.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Two**

  * •^*^••



  
  
  


It had been a week since Virgil had arrived, and Logan had finally read through all of the reference material about training vampires. There had been a surprising amount of it, especially since it seemed that most of it wouldn’t be useful to him. 

It seemed that the major point, in all of these books, was getting the vampire to a point at which it would be compliant and submissive. The methods of arriving at this point were varied, but many of them involved keeping the vampire under constant threat of pain. There were several points at which Logan’s stomach turned, reading through the accounts. He would have to keep the books away from Patton. 

However, Virgil was already compliant, seemingly as a side effect of being kept in the coffin for a lengthy period of time. And also, Logan was not unaware, likely this was affected by Patton’s immediate kindness, and possibly also by Virgil’s age. He certainly was the youngest vampire Logan had ever come into contact with, and the only to claim to have never killed a human. He wasn’t sure if he believed the claim, but still. 

But next was a short section on compliancy tests, after which it was suggested that the vampire could be taken on hunts, so long as they were in a situation to be controlled should something go wrong. It seemed that the easiest and simplest first test was the silver test. Logan was ready. He already had silver. He grabbed a bolt that was usually used in crossbows, but they didn’t have any crossbows, just a three-set of the bolts. It had been a gift to Patton several months ago. 

He went downstairs, noting that Virgil was trembling again. He’d have to figure that out. Surely it wasn’t still fear. Virgil didn’t stand, but he did turn to face him when he saw that Logan was heading towards the cell. 

Logan sat down outside of the cell, facing Virgil. Virgil still had that toy Patton had given him, and was fiddling with it with one hand down in his lap. His wrists still looked awful. Shouldn’t they have healed by now? He’d ask later. For now the test. 

Logan held up the bolt. “This is made entirely of silver.”

Virgil nodded hesitantly. 

Logan rolled it into the cell, and Virgil scrambled back away from it. Something rose up in him. Some kind of feeling. But Logan pushed it back down. It was a test. And Virgil was only a vampire. 

“I want you to pick it up.” Logan said. 

Virgil looked back and forth between the bolt and Logan. “I-it does hurt me,” he said, holding out his wrists as examples. 

Whatever that feeling was, it lifted its head and bit him, but Logan shoved it down again. “I am aware.”

Virgil looked down at the bolt as if it was about to come alive and bite him. “Why?” His voice was very quiet, as if he were trying very hard to make sure it didn’t sound accusatory. 

“I want you to do it because I told you to.” Logan said. 

Virgil looked from him to the bolt and back again. He gritted his teeth and picked up the bolt. Immediately his face twisted in pain, but he didn’t drop the bolt. 

“Hand it to me,” Logan instructed, putting his own hand through the bars to receive it. 

Virgil dropped the bolt into his hand immediately. He let out a hissing breath, tucking his hand to his stomach. Logan had a brief glimpse of reddened, welted skin. 

He had shoved the feeling down, but now it started rooting around in his stomach, gnawing painfully. “Well done, Virgil.”

Virgil nodded, still trying to blink back tears. 

Logan stood to leave. 

“Wait!”

Logan turned back to Virgil. 

“I—Can I—? I’m hungry.”

Logan gave a slight frown. “Already? It was my impression that vampires ate less frequently.”

“Normally, if, if we’ve had a full meal.”

Logan has only wanted to do one test today. But the second test listed was a hunger test. It was perfectly logical to conduct the test now. 

Still, the feeling in his stomach squirmed uncomfortably as he said, “No.”

Virgil’s face fell. 

Logan moved to a cabinet and pulled out a childish game that Patton kept there. If worst came to worst, he didn’t doubt that he could overpower Virgil, especially since he still had the silver bolt in his pocket. He unlocked the cell door. 

“Come. I want you to play this game with me.”

Virgil came out and sat down on the couch. Logan set up the game, easily playing while keeping his attention on observing Virgil. 

Virgil’s eyes had been tinged with red, but as they played, as Logan stayed so close, the red darkened. They played several rounds in near silence. 

As time passed, Virgil’s playing grew more simplistic, his physical movements became more jerky, and he stared more and more at Logan’s wrists. Clearly the bloodlust was affecting him. Honestly, Logan was surprised that Virgil hadn’t made any kind of move toward him yet. 

**“When this round is over,”** Virgil said, his voice deep and growling on the way out.  **“Can I eat? Please?”**

Logan looked up into Virgil’s eyes, not seeing any aggression, even though they were nearly glowing red now. He wanted to see how far he could push this. 

“No.”

Virgil’s jaw clenched, and he swallowed heavily. He stood up. Logan’s hand went to the silver bolt. Virgil went into the cell, pulling the door shut. 

**“I can’t. I can’t stay there. I’m sorry.”**

Logan wondered if this counted as passing the test. On the one hand, Virgil had just eaten a week ago, even if it was small. On the other hand, removing oneself from a situation was a legitimate form of self control. 

“Very well.” Logan locked the cell door. 

He went upstairs. He was practiced in letting his own blood, and sat down to do so. He was hit with a sudden question, and started writing an email right away. 

_ Sir, I wish to have the records of the vampire which you sent us. Specifically regarding feeding schedules. Provided, of course, that this does not contradict the rules of the final test. Thank you.  _

_ Logan.  _

He was just cleaning up when he received a reply. 

_ The vampire was captured on 7/13. It was kept in a containment coffin. It was fed 8 oz. of human blood on 8/17. It was shipped on 9/3. The date of its arrival is estimated to be 9/15. For further details you will have to make an official request.  _

Virgil is starving.

Depending on when he ate before capture, it could have been well over a month between eating then, and it was another month before he ate. Both times it was well under half of what would properly constitute a full meal. And the whole time he was trapped inside a coffin in constant contact with silver. 

Logan’s stomach lurched, and he dove for the sink, leaning over it heavily. 

Even for an uncontrollably violent vampire it would be cruel and inhumane. 

_ This  _ was why the silver burns weren’t healing. And why Virgil kept shaking. Why he’d been so terrified. Why he’d broken down like he had when he had been released. It was a wonder he hadn’t been driven mad. 

Logan was going to need more blood. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil crouched in the back corner of the cage, his hands fisted tightly in his hair, wishing that the mattress was a bed so he could crawl underneath it. Anything to hide him from the hunger that had spread to every cell of his body. 

It hadn’t been that bad until he had come in. Until the scent of blood had filled the room. And then he had pulled out a game, his hands close enough to touch. Close enough to bite. Red and warm flowing just underneath. Of course, he still had the muzzle on, but it was so easily removed. Just a string behind his head. 

Virgil clenched his jaw again. He couldn’t keep thinking about it. It only made it worse. 

The door to the basement opened, and the smell became so much stronger all over again. Virgil clenched his hands tighter and buried his face down in his knees. 

**“Please… don’t… “**

He heard the cell door open. 

“Virgil, I brought you food.” It was Logan, but his voice was much gentler than Virgil had yet heard it. 

Virgil’s head popped up immediately, almost against his will. Logan was kneeling in front of him, and in one hand was a blood bag, except this one was full. 

Virgil could have cried. Scratch that, Virgil did cry. Logan untied the muzzle and handed Virgil the bag. It was drained in a few brief minutes, but they seemed like some of the most heavenly minutes Virgil had ever experienced. 

The hunger finally stopped. He even felt full. He started feeling almost uncomfortably warm, and his wrists and ankles prickled where the skin was starting to heal. The fear he’d been trapped in loosened its hold, and suddenly he was very tired. 

“Perhaps that was too much at once,” Logan mused. 

“No! I’m-I’m awake. Thank you.”

  * •^*^••



Patton smelled blood. Which was odd. That meant that either Logan or Roman had let blood recently, like last half hour recently. Or maybe just hadn’t cleaned up very well. Patton wandered around the house, but didn’t see either of them. Roman was probably not home, since he had plenty of other things he did in addition to being a hunter-in-training. But Logan was almost always home, and left a note if he wasn’t. 

Suddenly a horrible thought crashed into Patton’s mind. What if Virgil had hurt Logan? If Logan was downstairs, bleeding, that would explain both his absence and the blood smell. Patton patted his pocket, the gun was still there. And he knew he kept it loaded. He rushed downstairs. 

Logan was inside the cell, with the door open, but seemed perfectly fine. Virgil was holding an empty blood bag, his face flushed and streaked with tears, and his eyes bright red. Patton let out a breath and let go of the gun. 

Both Logan and Virgil turned to look at him. 

“Greetings, Patton. How was the visit with your parents?”

“It was fine. I think it might have put me a bit on edge, though.”

“That does not seem to be an uncommon occurrence.” Logan noted. 

Logan turned back to Virgil and picked up the muzzle. Virgil dipped his head forward to let Logan put it on. 

Patton found that he was surprised. He shouldn’t be. Virgil had been perfectly submissive to anything any of them had asked of him. But, coming straight from his parents’ house, it was just different. It made him feel weird. And not a good weird either. 

Somehow, he doubted that these feelings were what was intended by the final test. He’d been expecting a wild vampire, one that they had to keep perfectly restrained or else it would attack them. And judging by what his father had been saying earlier, that was exactly the intention. But somehow they had gotten Virgil, who seemed more human than Patton could have ever guessed a vampire could be. And now, Patton was left feeling incredibly guilty. 

Maybe he could talk with Logan about it. Logan didn’t really understand feelings, but he always had an opinion, and facts to base his opinion on. So maybe Logan would help him stop feeling so guilty. He knew he shouldn’t feel guilty. As far as hunters went, they were being exceptionally kind to a captured vampire. But it still didn’t stop him from feeling just terrible when he saw Virgil’s face marked with tears. 

“Hey, Logan, can I talk with you?” Patton asked. 

“Of course.”

Logan came out and shut the cell door behind him. 

Patton took Logan back upstairs and poured them each a coffee. 

“What is it?” Logan asked. “You aren’t usually this hesitant to begin talking.”

“It’s just….” Patton sat down and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m feeling like, like we aren’t treating Virgil right.”

To his surprise, Logan nodded immediately. “I would agree with you.”

Patton frowned. This was not how he had expected the conversation to go. “What?”

“I’ve found myself… deeply disturbed at the suggested tests in the material we’ve been given. I was even more certain after administering some of the tests. I asked about Virgil’s feeding schedule before coming here, and now I am certain that there is something fundamentally wrong in the way that hunters are instructed to treat vampires.”

A part of Patton strongly agreed with Logan. But it still went against everything he’d ever been taught. He found himself advocating for the very thing he’d always disliked. “But normal vampires aren’t like Virgil.”

“That does appear to be true, however, I am now considering the possibility that we have only been exposed to vampires that are violent, and the further possibility that it was a purposeful move on the behalf of our teachers.”

“But I’ve been around loads and loads of vampires in my life, and I’ve never met one like Virgil.”

“That is only half true. You yourself have told me that you’ve seen vampires act in sometimes shockingly docile ways. In ways that inspired you to pity them. That you disagreed with those that would hurt them.”

Patton nodded slowly. He knew Logan was right. But it just… it just went against everything he’d been taught. He knew, if he made a decision, it could put him against both his mom and dad, maybe forever. 

“I still believe that, human or vampire, if one is hurting and killing others, that we would be in the right to kill them. But I’m beginning to disbelieve that all vampires by nature hurt and kill.” Logan said. 

Patton hung his head. “You’re right. I just… I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t think letting Virgil go will help anybody. If any of us doesn’t pass this test… well, Dad will be upset. And I don’t think Roman will agree with us.”

“I don’t know what exactly is the best course of action yet, either. But we have plenty of time to research and consider before we are forced into a decision.”

“Do we? I don’t know that I can just leave him down there knowing that I’m doing the wrong thing.”

“Help me then. Surely someone else has come to the same conclusion we have. We just have to find them.”

  * •^*^••



Roman made it back late at night. Logan and Patton were usually in bed at this time, so he made sure to be quiet as he opened the door and set down his bag. In the kitchen was a note on the table. 

_ Patton and I have gone together to do research. We will likely wish to speak with you upon our return.  _

_ Logan.  _

_ There’s food in the oven, just turn it on for 30 min!  _

_ Patton :) _

Roman smiled. It was odd of Patton to join Logan in his research expeditions, but not unheard of. The stranger thing was that Logan still insisted on leaving notes, when he could have just as easily, or more easily, texted. 

Roman turned on the oven and sat in the living room. Maybe he’d watch some tv while he waited. 

He suddenly realized that the vampire had been left alone for some time at least, and he was responsible, since he was the one home. He should probably check, while the food was cooking. 

He went to the basement door and clicked the light on. As he opened the door, he heard a scramble and a quiet clang. Roman rushed downstairs to see the vampire sitting on its bed, breathing heavily. 

He looked around the room, noting the cards on the table and the several open cabinets. 

“What were you doing?”

“... nothing.”

“No, you don’t lie to me,” Roman said, stalking towards the cell. “You got out, didn’t you?”

The vampire cringed back into the corner. “The door was left unlocked… I didn’t go upstairs.”

Roman scowled. “And you thought that you could just come out? What were you even doing?”

The vampire held up sloppily bandaged arms. “I found some medicine, and the cards.”

“You can’t just go and take our stuff! None of it belongs to you!”

“Well… I-I don’t belong to you either!” The vampire said, raising its voice. 

Roman flung the door open. 

“No. No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” The vampire covered its head with its arms. 

“You’re a vampire. You hurt people. Your whole kind hurts, and kills, and destroys! You deserve whatever happens to you.”

The vampire curled up into a tight ball. “Humans hurt me too. They killed my sire and kidnapped me and hurt me.”

“Your sire,” Roman scoffed. “Your sire took a perfectly decent person and broke them into a vampire.”

“No, she didn’t! You don’t know anything about her!” Despite the angry tone, the words were still quiet, and muffled by the vampire’s head being tucked down into its knees. 

“I know she killed and hurt people. Like all vampires do. She stole your chance at a normal life.”

“She was trying to help me!”

“How does turning you into a vampire help you? You have to leech off others to live, you want to hurt people—“

“No, I don’t!” The vampire broke in. “I’ve never wanted to hurt people.”

“Then why do you?! Why do you all always hurt people?!” Roman slammed his hand against the bars of the cell. 

The vampire didn’t make any answer other than a flinch. 

Roman turned away, disgusted. He made sure to lock the cell before he went upstairs. 

The food was, of course, delicious, but the moment it hit his tongue everything just tasted sour. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who commented last chapter. It was all so sweet and kind and I got inspired to write more and just— so much thank you!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I have a chapter three! But not a chapter four. Double but, I now have an idea for chapter four. It’s a bit hazy of an idea, and I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but it’s better than nothing!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Three**

  * •^*^••



  
  


“It appears that we have two people to talk to,” Logan said, gathering up the books and sorting them by what they needed to keep and what they were going to put back. 

“Yes,” Patton said, holding tightly to the cards with the addresses on them. “But first we need to go home. We need sleep, and they’re almost certainly asleep. 

So they did, but they went out first thing in the morning, even before having breakfast. 

Logan knocked on the door. 

It was opened by a vampire. He was short, barely coming up to Logan’s shoulder, and dressed in yellow pajamas. He had a scar over half his face, crossing one eye that was clearly blind. His good eye went wide the minute he saw them. 

“Thomas! It’s hunters.”

He turned back and almost shut the door. 

“How’d he know we’re hunters?” Patton whispered. 

Logan shrugged. 

The door was opened again by a taller man, smiling politely, if a little coldly. “Good morning. How may I help you?”

“We’ve read your book,” Patton started. 

“Wait, you did?” The man said, frowning in confusion. “I thought it got denied.”

“It did.” Logan confirmed. “But I have a connection in the archive who was willing to help me find something specific.”

“Oh? Oh. Why don’t you come inside?”

There was a low hiss from the vampire as they walked inside. 

Thomas guided them to the living room, and sat down across from them. 

“What is it you wanted to talk about?”

“Well, we’re having a bit of a problem,” Patton said. “We’re trying to take the last test, but, it just feels so wrong.”

“We’ve come to inquire, specifically on how you made living arrangements with your vampire.” Logan added. 

“I definitely don’t have a name,” the vampire said sarcastically. 

“Dee.” Thomas patted the couch next to himself. “Wanna come sit? They’re trying to understand.”

“Of course I want to sit with some  _ hunters _ who have barged their way into our house.” Dee hissed, turning to leave the room. A few steps away, he turned back. “I’m not leaving you with them.” He sat down next to Thomas, still very grumpy. 

“Why don’t you explain your situation, and then I’ll try to give you some advice.” Thomas suggested, not very sneakily wrapping an arm around Dee. 

“Well, the test started nine days ago, and we received a vampire, but he was not violent as expected. It has made many of the rules and procedures seem unduly cruel.” Logan said. 

“He was all chained up in the coffin with silver!” Patton said. “And it looked like he’d been there an awfully long time.”

To their surprise, Dee nodded. “A coffin with silver cuffs is standard practice for new captures.”

“He was also starved,” Logan added. 

“And you want to know how to live with him now?” Thomas asked. 

Patton nodded. 

“Since he was sent to you, he’s in the system. If you let him go, they’ll just think he escaped. They’ll kill him, or worse.” Thomas said. 

“That was my assumption, yes.” Logan said. 

“But that doesn’t mean that you don’t treat him like a person,” Thomas added. “Let him have his own room, or share with one of you if you’re worried. Let him go around the house. Take him places with you. Your best bet is to treat him as if he were another hunter.”

“What about actual vampire hunting?” Patton asked. 

“A vampire is just as willing to bring an evil vampire to justice as a human would be to bring an evil human to justice. So long as you don’t hunt innocents, and you actually deal out justice, I don’t think that there will be a problem. But listen to him, he’ll have a different opinion than you will, and it’s just as valid as yours is.”

Both Patton and Logan nodded. 

“What would you suggest if he tries to leave?” Logan asked. 

“Probably, if he doesn’t already know, you should tell him more about the hunters. If you treat him kindly, he shouldn’t want to leave.”

“Can I ask, what happened to your uh,” Patton’s hand hovered over the side of his own face. “I thought that vampires couldn’t scar.”

Dee glared at him, but he still answered. “If a vampire is held without eating, and hurt then, when they can’t heal for an extended period of time, they often scar. The vampire with you, depending on how long he was kept in the coffin, will most likely have scars.”

Dee pulled up one sleeve, to show discolored skin on his own wrist. 

Logan stood up. “We will not impose on you any further. Thank you for your time.” He held out a card. “I would like to be in contact, but I will leave the decision up to you.”

“Oh! Uh, thank you.” Thomas said, slightly caught off guard by Logan’s abruptness. He took the card. “I’ll text you later?”

“That would be acceptable.”

“Thank you, Thomas. And thank you, Dee.” Patton said, smiling as cheerfully as he could after hearing such sad things. 

“Yes, you’re welcome.” Thomas said. 

Dee grumbled something that may or may not have been words. 

They left the house. 

“Do you have business cards for yourself?” Patton asked. 

“No. I made that one specifically for this meeting.”

  * •^*^••



If Logan and Patton had come home, they did it while Roman was asleep, and also left while he was asleep. The only thing that informed him was another note on the kitchen table. 

_ We are going out as another part of the research. We expect to return sometime this afternoon.  _

_ Logan. _

_ I didn’t make any breakfast, but there’s leftovers in the fridge if you want them.  _

_ Patton :) _

Roman was still feeling disgruntled from the previous night, and eating breakfast didn’t help at all. Finally he stomped downstairs, feeling even more irritated as he saw the vampire cringe back away from him. 

“I’m giving you a chance.” He stated. 

“What for?” The vampire asked. 

“To explain yourself.”

“With the… cards? It’s boring down here.”

“No. Not with the cards! With the whole,” Roman flung out his hands, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. “Thinking you’re right thing.”

“Doesn’t everyone think that they’re right?”

“No! Just— What makes you think your sire was actually trying to help you?”

“Because she was.”

“You don’t know that! Whatever she said-“

“I’m not spilling my tragic backstory for you.”

Roman scowled. “I just don’t understand where you come off saying that vampires are different.”

“From what? From each other? No one’s exactly the same. Vampires are just as capable of having personality as humans are.”

“No they aren’t! I can’t believe that.”

“Then why are you talking to me?”

Roman spluttered. The truth was he didn’t know. “I’ve seen vampires like you before, you know. They act all nice, like they’d never do anything to hurt you. But it’s all a lie. They still kill, and hurt.”

The vampire didn’t answer. 

“He killed my mom. I’m not falling for it again. I’m  **_not_ ** letting you trick me!”

“You probably won’t believe me, but I’m sorry that happened.” 

“Just— ugh!” Roman stormed back upstairs. 

  * •^*^••



This house was very much off the records. Logan’s friend had told them about it, but had warned them not to let any other hunters know about it. 

Patton knocked on the door. He had to knock twice before it was opened. It was a very kind looking man, wearing a sweater and seeming to radiate calm and fun at the same time. His name was supposed to be Emile. 

“Hello? Do you how do?”

Patton grinned. “We’d like to talk with you.”

“Oh? What about?”

“We were referred to you by Elliot. We have a problem and it was suggested that you could provide advice.” Logan said. 

“Oh, well come in. Are you a couple?”

Patton’s face flushed bright red. 

But Logan easily changed the subject. “No, we came to ask you about a problem relating to vampires.”

The man stiffened slightly. “I see. What seems to be your problem?”

Logan explained about their positions, and about Virgil, and Patton interjected several times. They also told him about their visit to Thomas, and what he had said. He listened, interjecting with jokes occasionally, which Patton thought were hilarious, but Logan didn’t care for. 

“Well, I could certainly give you a longer answer if that’s what you want, but the short answer would be, talk to Virgil. I’m sure that he has his own opinions and you should take those into consideration. I don’t mean to say that he’s the only one who ought to decide, but he’s the one that has been forced into this position, and you’re the ones choosing to stay.”

Logan nodded slowly. “I take it, then, that you believe as Thomas does, that vampires ought to have the same rights as humans?”

Emile straightened. “Yes. I very much do.”

There was a soft click, which Patton ignored, his mind still swirling. A large part of him believed every word that Thomas and Emile had said, but there was still a part that couldn’t let go of what he’d been taught all his life. Even though he knew it had to be wrong. 

Suddenly there was a bruising grip on his shoulders and he was lifted out of his seat. 

“Remy!” Emile cried out. 

Logan startled and pulled his gun on the person, almost certainly a vampire, that was holding Patton. 

“They’re hunters, Em!” Came a voice just by Patton’s ear, where the vampire must be poised to bite. 

“Let him down.”

“Hunters!” The vampire said, shaking Patton to punctuate his point. 

“They came because they don’t like how they’ve been taught to treat vampires.”

Logan met Patton’s eyes, and Patton shook his head slightly. Shooting this vampire now wouldn’t be a good idea. 

“Can you let me down?” Patton asked, trying to keep his voice steady and a little cheerful. 

“Not until both of you swear you haven’t told any other hunters about us, and that you won’t.”

“We haven’t.” Logan said, still holding his gun ready. 

“We haven’t. And we won’t.” Patton assured the vampire. That was odd. It was decidedly  _ not  _ how this type of situation usually went. 

“Remy, trust me. Let him down.” Emile said calmly. 

Patton was abruptly dropped back onto the couch. 

“Why are hunters in our house?” Remy asked, stalking towards Emile. 

Emile didn’t flinch or back away. “They aren’t quite hunters,”

Remy scoffed, cutting off his sentence. “They reek of it.”

Emile slowly set a hand on Remy’s arm. “There’s a final test for hunters. They have to keep a vampire for a year. Once these two got their vampire, they realized how messed up it all is. They came here to try and learn better.”

Remy turned, and even though they couldn’t see his eyes past the sunglasses, he was clearly glaring at them. “You’ve better have learned enough then. You’re leaving. Now.”

“That may be best,” Emile agreed. 

“We will be on our way then.” Logan said. He put his gun away and took out another card. “I would like to be in contact with you, but I leave the decision to you.”

“Thank you for talking with us,” Patton added. 

Emile took the card. He nodded. Remy opened the door, ushering them out. 

Once they were in the car again, Logan turned to Patton. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. A little sore, but I’ll be fine.”

  * •^*^••



“Roman!” Patton said as soon as he entered the door. 

Roman looked up, his bad mood temporarily banished. “Patton! Logan! You’re home!”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Patton said. 

“Patton, he may need to come to this kind of decision on his own.” Logan said cautiously. 

“What is it?”

Roman waited until Patton was done explaining before he said anything. 

“No.”

“But-“

“No.” 

“Roman-“

“I won’t believe it. Vampires are always violent. They may be clever, but not a one of them is sane. And I will  _ never _ let one loose in this house.”

Patton frowned. 

“And honestly, I can’t believe you would consider it!” Roman continued. “With your family-“

“Don’t. Don’t bring my family into this.” 

“He’s manipulated you. Both of you! You’ve fallen for his victim act. I can’t— I can’t believe it!”

“I have considered that you would think this way,” Logan said, more hesitantly than usual. “What would it take to convince you?”

“Nothing. There isn’t anything that can convince me.” Roman said. 

“In that case, I propose a compromise.” Logan said. “Virgil has passed two compliancy tests. I am convinced that he will follow any rules we set. Until he does something to suggest otherwise, I propose that we let him have free reign of the basement. If he does, there are three of us. We can still easily overpower him. But, if he continues to prove himself as he has been, we will give him progressively more freedoms.”

“I don’t like it.” Roman said. “One chance is all it takes for one of us to have our throats torn out.”

“All three of us are capable hunters. We can easily be armed at all times.” 

Roman crossed his arms. “I don’t like it. I don’t like how you’re thinking, I don’t like being ganged up on, and I really don’t like that we’re considering GIVING A  **VAMPIRE** FREE REIGN IN OUR HOUSE!” 

Roman clenched his jaw, slightly ashamed that he just yelled at his friends, but more than angry enough not to care. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil wondered if the humans were aware that he could hear them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m super proud of that last bit. It made me happy just to write it, and I really what to know what you guys think too!
> 
> Also, if anyone wants to know what my hazy idea is, ask and you shall be given spoilers!
> 
> Edit: 99 kudos? In 3 days???? Thank you all so much!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made something! Yay!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Four**

  * •^*^••



None of the humans came downstairs that evening. Virgil didn’t mind too much. Being stuck in a cell sucked, but it was infinitely better than before. And he was still feeling full. His wrists and ankles were hardly hurting anymore, and the burn on his palm was entirely gone. And he still had the fidget cube to fiddle with. He’d never been one to shun time alone. 

Early the next evening, six thirty, if the clock on the wall was to be trusted, Patton came down into the basement. 

“Hey, Virgil.”

Virgil raised a hand in greeting. 

“Logan and I are going out for a while. Do you want to come with us?”

Virgil blinked. He had  _ not _ expected that. Even with the argument yesterday, he never would have thought… 

“What about Roman?”

Patton seemed to misunderstand his question. “Oh, don’t worry, we aren’t leaving him behind. He’s at school. His classes run late on Wednesdays.”

Truthfully, Virgil did want to go. As much better as the cell was than a coffin, it was still pretty boring. He did have one concern left, though. “Do I still have to wear this outside?” He raised a hand to the muzzle. 

“Oh… I didn’t think about that. Let me talk with Logan first, and I’ll let you know.” Patton raced back upstairs. 

Virgil could have heard them, if he wanted, but he purposely didn’t listen. If the answer was unpleasant he didn’t want to have to hear it twice. 

Shortly after, though, Logan and Patton both came down. 

“We have determined that you may accompany us, and may do so without the muzzle. But we want you to first promise that you will follow any and all instructions from either of us.” Logan said. 

Virgil nodded. He waited for Patton to open the door and take the muzzle off before he stood up. 

And then, they went… on a walk? 

It was awkward to say the least. Virgil was still skittish around them, since he didn’t know how far they would take anything. He stuck close to them, enjoying the night air as much as he could past the stale silence. They seemed just as awkward around him as he was around them. 

It seemed especially odd that they weren’t intending to do anything. 

It went smoothly, if awkwardly, until Virgil managed to catch someone’s eye. He hadn’t meant to. He’d been mostly looking down and across the street. But he just happened to make eye contact with someone else on the other side. And he knew immediately, and knew that the other knew as well, that they were both vampires. 

Virgil was behind the two humans, and they couldn’t see his face. He silently bared his teeth at the other, a warning to stay away. The other didn’t listen, or didn’t care, and crossed the street. She was now far too close for comfort, and kept advancing. Virgil turned to face her and hissed. 

“Virgil, what—?”

“Virgil!”

The vampire ran at Patton, and Virgil moved in between. He caught her wrist and shoved back with his other hand at her shoulder. She shifted to trying to bite him. 

“You don’t need two!” She hissed. 

Virgil grappled awkwardly. He was not trained in any kind of fighting, and wasn’t as strong as she was. But he managed to keep her off of Patton. 

Suddenly there was a deafening bang. The vampire fell limp, old, brownish blood languidly trickling from a hole in her temple. 

Virgil looked up to see Logan holding a still smoking gun. He couldn’t get any air. He couldn’t breathe. He let go of the vampire, tripping and falling as he backed away. His throat was thick and heavy, and his ears still rang from the gunshot. 

No. 

It was the same all over again. “Y-you killed her.”

Virgil couldn’t look at Logan. Someone touched his shoulder and he flinched away violently. 

He was on the ground. His sire was next to him, dead. They were going to hurt him next. They wouldn’t even kill him and let him go with her. 

“No. No. Nonono please…”

Virgil slammed his eyes shut. He couldn’t bear to look. 

But all that greeted him was the endless darkness. Darkness, pain, and hunger. It went on forever. 

He still couldn’t breathe. It hurt. 

Please let him out. Please. 

  * •^*^••



Patton was too overwhelmed. Virgil wasn’t responding to either of them. He was on the ground and he wasn’t breathing properly. 

“Patton.” Logan said, his voice cutting through the haze clearly. “Call us a ride. Someone trustworthy.”

“Yeah.” Patton dialed the number. He didn’t know why he was shaking, but he just wanted it to be over. Get Virgil back to their house. 

  * •^*^••



No one knew when someone might turn out to be a vampire. But that was why there were hunters. Didn’t make it any less terrifying. 

In fact, for some, it made it even more scary. 

Virgil was one of these. 

His dad was a vampire. He’d found that out the hard way when he was six. Between him and his mother, there was plenty enough blood, so his dad had never needed to go out and feed off of other humans. His dad wasn’t violent like other vampires he heard about on the news. But— maybe not everything was the way it was supposed to be. Virgil honestly didn’t know. It felt off, but he was forbidden from telling anyone. 

His mom sometimes told him to find a friend to sleep over with, and while he certainly didn’t mind, it seemed like the other kids had a much harder time going to sleepovers. It was fine, though, until middle school, when his friends seemed to fade away. 

The kids at school started picking on him, pushing him around on days he was weak from loss of blood. Mocking him for being overly pale. Telling the teachers he was a vampire. Constantly shoving various items made of silver in his face. 

One day, when he came home, his mom pushed a full backpack into his arms and took his other one.

“Tonight’s a sleepover night, Virge. There’s a snack in the bag, and a change of clothes, and your toothbrush. But you need to go quick, Dad’s coming home early today.”

“Mom, what happens when Dad gets home? Why can’t I stay?”

“Shh, honey, I love you so much, but that one’s a secret, ok? Go have a good time.” She pulled him into a warm hug and kissed his forehead. 

Was he imagining it, or was she trembling?

Virgil left the house and walked down the street. He hadn’t gotten to tell her. His last real friend had moved away. He’d gotten the letter at school. He’d wanted to say goodbye in person, but they were moving away very quickly, or something. 

Virgil found himself at a playground. There were a few parents with very little kids. He sat on the bench and opened the backpack to get the snack. 

Virgil sat on the bench until after the sun set. He wasn’t sure if he should try knocking on the houses of his old friends. Maybe they’d let him in anyway? It was getting cold out here, even through his jacket. 

“Good evening,” said a feminine voice. 

Virgil turned to look. She was very tall, and wearing a long dress. Even in the dark, he could see the reddish glint in her eyes. 

“Good evening. Are you— I’ll give you my blood if you make sure it doesn’t hurt.”

The woman stepped closer, movement fluid and fast. “What makes you think I want your blood?”

“Your eyes.”

She laughed quietly. “Not many humans recognize bloodlust this early.”

Virgil didn’t answer. There didn’t seem to be a good answer to something like that. He felt oddly calm, more so than he would usually. Perhaps she had some kind of power to make people calm. 

“Why are you out here all alone at night?” She asked. 

“My mom told me to have a sleepover with friends, but I don’t have any friends. And I can’t stay home because dad’s coming home early, and I’m kinda scared because he’s—“ Virgil slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“Don’t be concerned, I tend to have this effect on people. It comes with age and beauty.”

And oddly enough, Virgil wasn’t concerned, though a part of him said that he should be. 

“What were you saying about your dad?” The woman continued. 

Virgil kept his hand over his mouth and shook his head. 

“That’s fine. You don’t have to tell me. But come, I’ll give you a safer place to sleep than a park bench.” 

She held out a hand, and even though he was too old for holding hands, Virgil slipped his hand into hers. 

She led him across town and into a house. The house was cold. Not colder than outside, but not warm like most houses. All the lights were turned off, and she didn’t bother turning them on as she led him into a room. 

The room had a nightlight, and one bed. The walls were painted a dark emerald green, and it was decorated to look like something elves would have made in the middle of a forest. 

“This is my guest bedroom,” she said. “There are extra blankets under the bed if you get cold. You’re welcome to sleep here tonight.”

Virgil set down his backpack. “Thank you. But, aren’t you going to take my blood?” 

He looked up at her, and her eyes flashed a brighter red. “No. I’m not. For tonight you are a guest.”

She left, shutting the door softly. Virgil changed into his pajamas and climbed into the bed. It was the softest bed he’d ever slept in. As he fell asleep, he began to worry that something was wrong. But he was asleep before his worries could return. 

The next morning the woman drove him back to the park, and he walked home from there. 

He was almost home when he realized just how  _ awfully _ that could have gone. What had he been thinking?! Just walking off with a stranger? Going into their house?! He knew she was a vampire, and he still  _ asked _ her if she was going to take his blood!? That could have been a death sentence! He still didn’t even know her name! What on earth had he been thinking!?

  * •^*^••



Virgil was fourteen when his mom died. It was a mystery to the police, but Virgil had strong suspicions. 

The woman, who still refused to give Virgil a name, had become his friend, and her house was always open to him. The invitation was used more often once he found out why his mom had sent him away sometimes. 

She had other vampires that stayed at her house sometimes, but it was always plain to them that Virgil was off limits. They didn’t like him, but he had no reason to like them either. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil still didn’t know what happened to his dad when he got like this. Only that it was incredibly dangerous. 

He didn’t leave in time. 

Trying to run away only resulted in him laying face up in the backyard. He couldn’t move. Everything hurt, and he felt so very weak. His eyes closed. 

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there. It was at least a day, but could have been several for all he knew. 

There was a loud crash from the house. Virgil only barely managed to turn his head enough to see. Someone was fighting inside. There were yells and angry screeches, but he wasn’t coherent enough to understand what they were saying. 

Finally he understood a phrase, screamed loudly. “Where is he?!” It was her. 

He felt a relief at that. If anyone could do something she could. But maybe relief wasn’t the thing he needed in that minute, because it caused him to let go of that last strand of consciousness he’d been holding on to. 

He woke up in the familiar green room. The woman was sitting on the bed beside him, holding a bag of blood. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was blood. Except that it smelled like blood. But it was closed. How could he smell it?

He supposed that it was for her, but his stomach clenched, and he suddenly found himself reaching for it. 

She smiled sadly and handed it to him. “Good morning, Virgil.”

Virgil’s heart raced as he realized what he was doing. He wasn’t calming down either. Why not? She’d always made him feel calm! Why wasn’t it working? Why was he drinking  _ blood _ ?

She brushed his bangs out of his face. “I turned you. You’re a vampire.”

“Why?” Virgil’s voice broke. Vampires weren’t— they weren’t good. Even she, the kindest one he’d ever met, who’d never even drank from him, was still always suspicious and just a bit creepy. 

“You were dying.”

“I don’t- I don’t know how to be a vampire. I don’t want to be!”

She leaned forward and hugged him. “It’ll be alright.”

  * •^*^••



Virgil settled in surprisingly easily. The other vampires that hung around his sire’s house had also been turned by her, for a variety of reasons. They still didn’t really like him, but that was fine. He hadn’t had friends in years anyway. 

It was fine, until she told him that she wouldn’t be bringing home bags of blood anymore. 

“You’ll have to learn how to get your own food.”

“I don’t- I don’t know how. I don’t want to hurt people. Please? I’ll find some way to pay you back.”

She laid a cold hand on his cheek. “You’ll be fine. The only way to learn is practice.”

“I don’t want to. What if I hurt them? What if I kill them?!”

“You’ll be fine. You won’t kill them. I’ll come with you the first time, to calm them, but after that you must learn for yourself.”

Virgil still didn’t want to. He knew what it felt like. It hurt. He didn’t want to make someone else hurt like that. 

The first time wasn’t hard. His sire found a man who was walking alone in the night, and calmed him. It wasn’t hard, but Virgil felt sick leaving the man with punctures he didn’t know how to heal. 

The second time was much worse. Virgil cried as he dialed 911. He ran as soon as he heard the ambulance, abandoning the phone in case it could be traced back to him. 

His sire insisted that he would learn by doing, but his third time ended just as disastrously. 

He begged her to bring blood. He’d get a job somewhere. He’d pay her back somehow. But she refused. 

It took time, and several more panicked calls to 911, but he did learn. He couldn’t make it painless, much as he wished he could, and he didn’t know how to heal the puncture marks. His sire assured him that it would come with practice, and as he grew more confident in himself. 

  * •^*^••



The hunters came suddenly, with little warning. One minute there was a smell of death and danger, and the next the door was beaten down. Virgil knew he wasn’t capable of fighting. He lost to every one of the other turned in a wrestling match, and didn’t dare try against his sire. So he hid. Lot of good that did him. 

  * •^*^••



“Virgil? Virgil, can you hear me?” I need you to focus on my voice.”

Virgil tried to shift his attention away from the scene his mind insisted was repeating. The voice was mostly calm, just a little worried. 

“I’m not going to touch you again. You’re safe. I need you to take in a deep breath.”

Virgil choked on the air. His vision darkened again. 

“It’s alright. You don’t have to get it right. Just try one more time with me.” The voice breathed in deeply, loud enough to hear. 

Virgil tried copying, with only slightly more success. 

“Well done. One more time, hold your breath a little before letting it out.” 

Virgil followed the instructions, even as they grew more complicated, and the voice wanted him to count as he breathed. 

Eventually the false scene dissolved, and Virgil found himself laying on a couch in a house. In the hunters’ house. Patton and Logan were hovering over him, and Logan was still coaching him through breathing. 

“Are you alright?” Patton asked. 

Virgil gave a shaky nod. He would be, even if he wasn’t really ok at the moment. 

“When you feel up to standing, we’ll take you downstairs. You should rest.” Logan said. 

Soon after, Virgil was left alone in the cell to process the rest of his panic by himself. They hadn’t put the muzzle back on, and he was pretty sure that the door was unlocked. He didn’t know if he was grateful, or suspicious that neither of them had brought up the fact that they’d killed a vampire right in front of him. In his arms, really. That one was going to leave nightmares. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as far as chapter five, my ideas are super super hazy. I just know I want to do something with Patton’s dad, since I keep hinting that way. 
> 
> So if anyone has any theories/headcanons about Patton’s Dad, let me know! It may help inspire me. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was really difficult to write, and might not be quite as good as some others, but I feel like I set up enough stuff so that things can start moving and changing. 
> 
> And I want to say thank you to everyone who commented with suggestions about Patton’s Dad! It was really helpful!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Five**

  * •^*^••



  
  


The humans were all gone. Roman had left first. He didn’t seem to spend much time at the house. Logan and Patton had left later on. 

Virgil had been here for a few weeks now. He was allowed to do what he wanted in the basement, except at night, when the cell was locked again. There wasn’t much to do. There were several games in the cabinets, but most games required two or more people. Logan brought down some books, and that would have been nice, had they been anything he could understand. They were very technical, and not in subjects he knew much about. So Virgil ended up playing a whole lot of solitaire and making card houses. 

There was a familiar sound from above him. The front door was being opened. Odd. He’d thought they would be away for much longer. 

“Patton! Are you home?” 

Ok, no. That was not any of their voices. A friend maybe?

Footsteps went all over the downstairs, and then probably the upstairs, where Virgil couldn’t hear as well. 

“Go away,” he muttered. “They aren’t home.” 

Virgil put the cards back in the package. 

Then the footsteps came to the basement door. It was locked. He was sure. He hadn’t checked, but he knew they always locked the basement door. He’d be safe down here. But he hadn’t checked! 

Then he heard a key being turned in the lock and the door opening. Virgil raced into the cell and pulled the door shut. He didn’t watch where he put his hand, and got a burn from the silver, but it would heal soon enough. 

“Hello? Is someone down here?”

Crap. He should’ve just been quiet and still. 

A man came down the stairs. He was in his forties or fifties, but clearly the kind of man that took pride in his strength. But looking at his face, Virgil had no doubt that he was related to Patton. He carried two silver pistols openly on his hips, and probably all those pockets had other implements for either capturing or killing vampires. He had a badge on his chest that proclaimed him to be a Vampire Hunter. 

All hunters smelled bad, like Death herself had shared her perfume with them, but this was the worst Virgil had smelled yet. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t smelled it as soon as the front door opened. 

He also hasn’t known that hunters were open like this. He’d heard stories of hunters before, but that was because he was always around vampires. Some people were still suspicious that vampires existed, how were hunters able to just declare themselves like this?

“Oh, are you the one sent to Patton?” The man asked. 

Virgil didn’t make any kind of reply. He didn’t know him. He didn’t owe him anything, not even a reply. He just hoped the man wouldn’t try to come into the cell. 

“Not very aggressive, are you?” The man walked further into the room, noting the cards on the table. 

Virgil watched warily. There was no way that the man didn’t realize the door was unlocked. Roman had come in. If the man kept coming closer, he might come in as well. 

“Haven’t even got a muzzle on or anything…” the man said, turning to stare at Virgil. “I bet if I came in there you wouldn’t try to bite me, would you?”

Virgil’s breathing sped up. He did  _ not  _ want some strange dude coming any closer. 

“No, that was a question. Answer me. If I came in, would you bite me?” The man’s voice had turned harsh and commanding. 

Virgil shook his head. 

The intensity faded away. The man pulled a massive key right out of a pocket, and searched for awhile. He found the right key, and locked the cell. Virgil wasn’t sure how he had keys to everything, but he didn’t doubt that this man would shoot him if he protested to anything. 

After locking the cell, the man went back upstairs. Virgil could hear him, either talking to himself oddly or on several different phone calls. It was another three hours before Patton got home. 

  * •^*^••



Patton got home and was surprised to find the front door unlocked. He was sure that he’d locked it when he left. 

“Oh, Pat!” He heard his dad say as he stepped inside. 

“Dad! Hi!” Patton stepped around the corner to the living room and stopped dead. “What are you wearing?”

His dad grinned, looking down at the numerous tools of the trade that were attached very visibly to his clothes. “You know I had a meeting with the board today.”

“Yes…” Patton frowned slightly. “I thought you were going to call and tell me how it went.”

“It’s all far too big to say over the phone.”

Patton sat down. “Ok. What happened?”

“We’ve decided that we’ve been wrong, doing things the way we’ve been.” 

Patton nodded. 

“Now, China still disagrees, and several from Africa and one from Canada, but all of the European representatives completely agree with us.”

“Wait, this was a big board meeting? I thought it wasn’t bigger than America.” Patton interrupted. 

“Well, it wasn’t going to be, but once we decided, we went ahead and contacted the other branches, and set up a whole big thing!”

Patton nodded again. 

“So, it’s been decided that hunters should become public.”

“What?!”

“I know! But it’s been a long time coming. We can only do so much if we can’t let anyone know about it. Even silver guns are still pretty loud.”

“But I thought that the whole reason of keeping it a secret was to avoid people panicking.”

“Yes, but when we weighed a few weeks of panic against the lives vampires could be taking while we slink around, trying to do things slowly, it’s been decided that we should just out with the whole thing.”

“You think they’ll all be caught in a few weeks?”

“Eh, not all, but I’d say 90% is a safe bet. If the vampires get exposed, we’ll have people handing them in left and right.”

“But if people try to hand them in, those people could get hurt.”

His dad shrugged. “Not more people than the other option. So, because of all this, we’re gonna get badges, and I’m working on getting the police to work with us, it’s gonna be so much to do!”

Patton nodded, a bit dazed. “Yeah, I see the badge. What are you going to do with all the vampires? Surely there isn’t that much room to hold them all.”

“We have a decent amount of room, but what we’re going to do is have them split up between the ones that are controllable, and uncontrollable. The uncontrollable ones we’ll stake, and the controllable ones we’ll work with to give something back to the community. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?” Patton squeaked. 

“Sure! You’ve always been able to get nearly any vampire to do what you wanted inside of a week. I’ve been downstairs, noticed how well trained that one is already. You could really help with this, Pat.”

“It’s… it’s a lot, Dad. I don’t know yet.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine! You’ll just have to show a couple of our guys how you do things, and then they’ll be able to do their parts by themselves. It’ll be good practice for you, make it easier for you to take over my job one day.”

Patton turned his instinctive grimace into a kind of a smile. “Yeah… I guess, knowing the people already would make it easier.”

“It’s not just knowing them, Pat. It’s taking a leadership role. You’ll lead the hunters, and they’ll see your natural genius with vampires, and you’ll start making the important connections you’ll need when you get to be my age.”

“It’s still just a lot, Dad. I think I need time to think it over.”

“No, you don’t understand, we’re doing this today.”

“Today?! Why?”

“The sooner the better! We’re going to jump them, before any news can leak out and they hide away. I’m expecting you to come with me tonight on the first big hunt.”

“I—I just, I’ve only just heard about this—“

“Let me rephrase this, if you don’t come tonight, not only will I be disappointed in you, but I’ll be embarrassed in front of a very large group of people.”

Patton froze. 

“And frankly, I’m surprised that you aren’t excited about this.”

Patton could handle his dad being upset with him, it happened. He could even handle him being disappointed, though that definitely hurt more. But how could he embarrass his Dad? And publicly? And he’d be doing it on purpose. He couldn’t. He could just  _ do  _ that. 

“I’ll be there. When does it start?” 

“Sunset. I’ve brought you and your friends badges. I’d love to stay until then, but I’ve got to contact the rest of the hunters in this part of the country, and there’s not much time left now.” He stood up and set three of the badges on the table. “I can’t wait to see you again tonight.”

Pat mustered up a weak smile. 

“I love you, Pat.”

Patton accepted the hug his dad offered. “Love you too.”

  * •^*^••



Virgil had been listening carefully to the conversation going on above him. It sounded bad. Really bad. 

He knew that they were hunters, but hearing Patton’s dad talk so casually about staking large numbers of vampires, and probably enslaving the rest, sent a cold chill through him. 

Then Patton’s dad left, and Patton started downstairs. 

“Virgil?”

Virgil wasn’t sure what to say. “...hi.”

“Are you alright? My dad said he came down here earlier.”

And then Virgil was reminded that he was talking with Patton. Patton who was kind, and tried to be considerate even to a vampire. Patton who could possibly be convinced. 

“I-I heard you two talking…” Virgil said, testing the waters. 

Patton’s eyes went wide, and then a little ashamed. 

“Patton, please, don’t help do something like this.”

“I have to.”

“No, you really don’t. It’s not even— I don’t know why you do any of it. You don’t have to.”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“My dad lost my mom and my brother, and nearly me too, to vampires. I can’t leave him. He needs me.”

“But surely you don’t have to do  _ this.  _ Surely you don’t want to!”

“I don’t want to hurt innocent people, vampires or human, but most vampires aren’t innocent, Virgil. You aren’t like most of them.”

“Your dad doesn’t want to find out who’s innocent.” Virgil said, leaning against the bars of the cell. “He wants to find which of them are useful as slaves and kill the rest.”

Patton sat down heavily, scrubbing at his face with his hands. “There isn’t anything else I can do. I can’t go against my dad. I won’t.”

“If you don’t, you let innocent people get hurt. And die.”

Patton squeezed his eyes shut, and tears leaked out. “I know…” he whispered. 

The door upstairs opened. “Patton? I’m home.” It was Logan’s voice. 

“Um…” Patton swiped tears off of his face. “I’m downstairs!” His voice sounded shockingly happier to Virgil. 

Soon Logan came down the stairs. Of course he noticed Patton’s slightly blotchy face, but didn’t comment. 

“Is there some sort of conversation going on?”

“Yeah, my dad came by. It’s uh,” Patton gave a dry laugh. “It’s pretty big news.”

He explained quickly to Logan. 

“I see. And what are your thoughts on this?”

Patton shook his head. “I don’t know. I have a lot of thoughts, but they’re all twisted up right now.”

Logan nodded understandingly. “And what are your thoughts, Virgil?”

“I think it’s going to catch a whole lot of people that didn’t do anything wrong.” Virgil said bitterly. 

Logan nodded, a curious look on his face. “And what percentage of the vampire population would you believe is similar to you? In their desire not to hurt others, primarily.”

Virgil shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know that many vampires.”

“Then what leads you to believe that such a large number of people caught in this effort would be innocent?”

Virgil shrugged, but gritted his teeth anyway. 

“I truly am interested in your opinion and thought process.” Logan said. “Please elaborate. I am unable to understand you from mere shoulder movements.”

“Just— they can't all be violent! It’s not like we lose out feelings or memories when we get turned. Even if they do hurt people, they could be doing it on accident, or they felt like they were driven to it. And… and I’m also scared. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, ever. But this sounds almost worse, and he was talking as if it would be a lot of people.”

“I’m going to infer that you also are concerned that you would be thrust into a difficult or painful position again, correct?” 

Virgil chewed on his lip, but nodded. 

“Your concerns are valid. I do not know precisely how to address them at this time, but your points are still valid. I personally intend to go this evening, if only to gather more information. I would be open to another conversation upon my return.”

“It’s not the time for information gathering!” Virgil insisted. “They’re going to be killing people tonight. Maybe a lot of people.”

“I personally do not believe that there will be many, if any casualties tonight. I believe that many others will be caught just as off guard as we have been. The hunters, while certainly more energetic, ought not to be any more efficient than usual. And they will be in the open. Any vampires will have adequate time to find a place to hide for a night.” 

Patton looked downright hopeful at hearing this. 

“In the next four weeks, however, there is indeed a potential for much bloodshed, and it will likely be influenced by the events of this evening. I find it imperative that I be there as a witness.”

Patton was nodding. 

The front door banged open. “Guys! Have you heard the news?! Patton? Logan?”

“Downstairs!” Patton called. 

Roman bounded down the stairs, the most exuberant Virgil has seen him yet. “Have you heard?! This could be it for me!”

“Yes, we have heard, Roman.” Logan said calmly. “And yes, you could possibly ‘make a name for yourself’ this evening.” He even did air quotes for the expression, which Virgil found amusing. 

“You just… you have to be careful what kind of name.” Patton said, his face creased with worry again. 

Roman was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, for once not deterred by Virgil’s presence, a badge already pinned to his shirt. 

  * •^*^••



On the tv, playing in Thomas’s house, came a woman’s voice. 

_ “It seems that the hunters have finally found a vampire. We have not confirmed this fact yet. They’ve— oh. Oh, dear God, they’ve torn it apart… No! Do not put the camera near it. Oh. Oh God.” _

Thomas turned the tv off. He knew that Dee had to have heard, even from his hiding place. He put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. Life was about to become a nightmare. 

  * •^*^••



When Virgil heard the humans get back in the early morning, there was the unmistakable sound of crying. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am open to any other headcanons or theories about any character! If anyone wants to chat, or just say hi or anything, I’m also known as kieraelieson on tumblr. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there’s puke. Some people really don’t like that, so, warning. Also, it’s just, rather intense? Patton freaks out, so if you would freak out at the same things as Patton would, you have been warned.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Six**

  * •^*^••



“Oh. I see. Yes. Allow me to call you back momentarily.” Logan set the phone down. 

“Who was that?” Roman asked. 

“It was Emile. He wanted to know if we could house Remy, if only for a short time. His house is likely to be caught in the sweep this evening.”

“Who are they?” Roman asked. 

“We met with them while considering what we ought to do with Virgil.” Logan explained. “Remy is a vampire, and is… at the very least, he will resort to violence to protect Emile.”

“Why would we keep him here? There’s plenty of room in the warehouse.” Roman asked. 

“Roman, I am well aware of your stance on the matter, but please try to consider that others have differing positions. Emile wishes us to keep Remy and release him afterwards. To protect and hide him from the sweep.”

Roman frowned. “Why would he…?” His voice trailed off. “He wants us to keep a vampire alive, and let it go afterward. To go against the goal we’ve been working towards for years, and to do it behind the backs of the other hunters.”

“Yes. That is what he has requested. Though I am not certain that he is aware of our participation in the sweep.”

“No. I’m not doing it. It’s not—it’s just not right, Logan!”

“I am not in a position to make a moral judgement on this either way. However, I will say that I am inclined to allow him to stay.”

“Why?!”

“Because in all that I’ve seen of him, he acted to protect someone. And it is that person asking us to help him.”

“I just don’t understand. Just because Virgil is good at acting suddenly you both go and get all soft on vampires.”

“Surely you don’t entirely agree with the sweep. You seemed just as distraught as Patton the other night.”

“I don’t like  _ how _ it’s playing out, but I still think that it’s the right idea. How could you not? Vampires have been hurting and killing for hundreds, probably thousands of years! If they were just gone, we could stop all that.”

“There. That is the point on which we differ.”

“What? That vampires hurt people?”

“No. I agree with you that vampires have caused pain and death, but I do not believe that it will stop if they are killed. It could just as easily be argued in the exact same way from their side. Humans have hurt and killed vampires for just as long as vampires have.”

“But if there’s a war from us to them, and from them to us, and it’s the war causing the problems, wouldn’t it be better for it to be over?”

“I do believe that there would be less pain if people didn’t hurt one another, but attempting to wipe out an entire subsection of people is not a cessation of fighting. It’s quite the opposite, actually.”

“But they aren’t people!” Roman insisted. “As long as there are vampires around they’ll hurt us.”

“I would have been inclined to agree with that sentiment a month or two ago, but since then I’ve opened myself to the possibility of vampires retaining their humanity. And I have found that at least 60% of them retain some aspect of the person they were before, and at least 20% of those are only marginally changed by the turning.”

Roman frowned. 

“I still do not know what is the determining factor in the change,” Logan continued. “And I admit that my own experiences are much of what I can draw upon to support this hypothesis. Despite this, I intend to continue to explore this possibility and to seek out more data and obtain other people’s views on this.”

“And what is it that first made you think that vampires count as people?” Roman asked. 

“It was Virgil. I believe I have recounted the result of the second test I put him through?”

Roman nodded. “So he’s a good actor. I can be a good actor. And at that point he was still under the threat of being put back in the coffin. He’d have done anything.”

“He was not under any kind of direct threat. While I could have done so, I did not, and certainly did not inform him of any consequences to failing the test. Neither did I inform him that it was a test. I believe that his decision, while possibly influenced by fear of retaliation, was mainly for the purpose of not harming another person.”

“And what, not wanting to hurt someone makes him a person? He’s dead. Or was.”

“Your position that vampires are not people seems to hinge on the fact that they invariably hurt people, so it is reasonable that a desire, and action supporting that desire, in the opposite direction would indicate the opposite.”

Patton came downstairs, walking heavily, and his eyes were red with bags underneath. 

“Dad wants me to come to his house, and he wants me to bring Virgil.” Patton poured himself a coffee, something he rarely drank. 

“I can come with you,” Roman offered. 

“I’d appreciate that.” Patton came and sat down with his coffee. He hadn’t put anything in it other than creamer, which was even more unusual. 

“Emile called,” Logan said. “He’d like if Remy can stay here for tonight.”

Patton shrugged. “I don’t mind.” 

Logan looked at Roman.

Roman grimaced. “Fine. But I’m not having some random vampire wandering around and trying to kill us. He has to be in the cell, and muzzled at least. Cuffed would be even better.”

Logan nodded. “I’ll remain here, and deal with that, then.”

  * •^*^••



Patton felt awful. If his dad hadn’t called he wouldn’t have gotten out of bed at all. The scene from a few nights ago kept replaying in his mind. Over and over. The blood, and… and the scream. And the worst part was that it was all his fault. If he just hadn’t gone… 

Virgil was following him quietly. Because they were going to be in public, and especially since they were going to his dad’s house, Virgil had on the leather muzzle and his hands were cuffed. Patton could see that Virgil was on the line between nervous and scared, but what else was he supposed to do? His dad had been very specific. He wanted Virgil there. 

And both Patton and Roman would be there in case anything went wrong. 

Patton walked up to the house. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. After a minute he called his dad. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, dad. Where are you?” 

“Oh, I’m in the barn. Sorry about that, Pat.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be right there.”

It was fine, until they neared the barn. Maybe twenty or thirty feet away Virgil suddenly stopped, and pulled away from Roman when he tried to pull him forward. 

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked. 

Virgil couldn’t talk with the muzzle on, but he shook his head. His eyes were panicked, and he kept trying to pull away from Roman. 

“Oh, come on. I’ve been in there loads of times. We aren’t handing you over or anything.” Roman said, pulling at Virgil’s arm again. 

Patton laid a comforting hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “It’s alright. We’ll keep you safe.”

As soon as he opened the door Patton regretted not listening to Virgil. The sound of heavily muffled crying filled the air, not loudly at all, but all the more appalling for it. Patton looked around. Stacked five and six high, all around the barn, were coffins. His dad was standing in front of a row of cells, and in several of them were vampires, mostly laying on the ground. 

“Dad. What-?”

“Patton!” His dad’s voice was far too loud, too cheerful. “Finally!” 

His dad came and took him by the arm, pulling him towards the cells. The vampires inside were covered in burns. 

Patton fought to breathe. His vision was swimming, and his legs threatened to buckle with every step. 

“W-what..? Dad… what are you doing?” His voice only barely escaped his rapidly closing throat, and trembled the whole way out. 

“Are you alright? You sound sick.” 

Patton was shaking. He knew his face had to be deathly pale. The crying seemed to get louder, until it was all he could hear. 

“Here, sit down, Pat.” His dad’s voice was all concern, but somehow that made it sound worse. 

Patton collapsed into the cheap foldable chair. Soon Roman was there, kneeling in front of him. 

“—on. Pat, come on. Talk to me.” 

Patton suddenly realized that Roman had been trying to get his attention, his dad also there, but standing awkwardly, as if he didn’t know what to do. 

Patton wasn’t sure that he could talk. He set a hand on Roman’s arm, and Roman smiled in a tight sort of way. 

“Why don’t we go back to the house,” his dad suggested. 

Roman picked Patton up, and Patton didn’t even have the strength to protest at all. Virgil followed, keeping himself where Roman was between him and Patton’s dad. He was shaking worse than Patton was. 

It took several minutes of sitting on the couch with a cup of cold water for Patton to come back to himself. Roman was sitting next to him, and his dad was sitting in his chair just across the room. He looked around for Virgil, and found that he was sitting on the floor near the couch, his head bowed where Patton couldn’t see his face past his hair. 

“Are you feeling better now?” Roman asked. 

Patton nodded. “A bit, yeah.”

“What happened?” His dad asked. “If you were sick you could have told me. I’d never have wanted you to come all the way out here sick.”

“No, I-I’m not sick. Not that I know of.”

“Perhaps you should get checked out,” his dad suggested. “You nearly passed out back there.”

Patton nodded, still rather dizzy-feeling. “What did— what did you need me for?”

“It can wait, I have time.”

“No, I’m already out here, I can just…” Patton trailed off, but he knew his dad would understand anyway. 

“Well, when I came to your house the other day, I unlocked your basement, but your vampire, instead of trying to ambush me, or trying to escape, just zipped back into the cell. I wanted you to show me how you did it. I’ve been trying on my own, but it hasn’t worked yet, and you always had a way with training vampires—“

Patton leaned over the arm of the couch, and Virgil had to scramble back to avoid getting puked on. 

“Patton!” His dad came and felt his head. “You aren’t hot… I think you need to go to the emergency room.” 

Roman left, and came back with a towel and a large bowl. Patton accepted the bowl and held it in his lap. He felt bad that Roman was cleaning up his puke, but he didn’t trust his legs to hold him if he tried to stand up. 

“I’m gonna take him.” Roman said. 

Patton’s dad nodded. “Yeah, that’d be a good idea. Call me when you figure out what’s wrong.” He leaned down and cupped Patton’s face. “Get better, honey, don’t worry about anything else, alright?”

Patton nodded weakly, still not sure that he wasn’t going to throw up again. “Can I take the bowl with me?”

“Of course. I don’t need it.” 

Roman carefully picked Patton up again. He made Virgil take the front seat to that Patton could have the whole back row of the car. 

They’d been driving for several minutes before Patton spoke. “I don’t think I’m sick.”

“You just threw up! And nearly passed out! What else is that supposed to be?” 

“It’s just— I knew my dad didn’t like vampires, but I—I never would have thought—“ his words got cut off in a choked sob, and tears began pouring down his face. “And—and he wanted me to—“

Roman pulled over into a little side road, and stopped in an empty parking lot. He got out and came around into the back with Patton. 

“Hey, it’s alright.” Roman hugged Patton as best he could with the awkward positioning. 

“No, it-it isn’t! M-my dad tortures p-people!” Patton’s sobbing only got worse. 

Roman just hugged him. He murmured soft things that didn’t mean anything, and stroked a hand through his hair. 

  * •^*^••



When they got home, heh, he was thinking of it as home. Roman didn’t bother to really do anything with Virgil. Just opened the basement door, let him through, and closed and locked it. 

Virgil went down the stairs, and was surprised to see a different vampire in the other cell. He was wearing the bar muzzle, but his hands were free. He only briefly glanced at Virgil before continuing his attempt at picking the lock, despite the burns he was getting. 

Virgil sat down on the couch. His shoulders ached slightly from his hands being cuffed behind his back so long, but it paled in comparison to the sounds still running through his brain. 

He sat there, partially drowning in his own thoughts, and partially trying desperately to escape from them. 

Suddenly there was a loud noise, and movement in front of him. He jerked his head up, and saw the muzzle, laying on the ground, and a dent on the coffee table from where it had hit before bouncing off. 

“Hey, know where the key is?” The other vampire asked. 

Virgil shook his head. 

The vampire sighed, and sat down on the mattress. “Agh, Emile…” 

Virgil was mildly curious, but it wasn’t like he could ask. And the vast majority of him was just tired. A bone deep tiredness he hadn’t felt in a while. He was really starting to get hungry, too, which didn’t make anything better. 

The other vampire didn’t talk to him, which made sense seeing as he couldn’t answer, and after a little while, Virgil fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a chapter alright. When is the fluff coming? Uh... eventually? It’s not hitting my brain yet. I have promised several people, though, and Virgil will be getting hugs before it’s all over, so it won’t be this dark the whole way through.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a short chapter, but I think it’s pretty good.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Seven**

  * •^*^••



Virgil was woken by a sudden loud clang. 

“Gurl, you know I can hear you!” The other vampire yelled, aiming his voice up at the ceiling. 

There wasn’t any sounds from upstairs, so the humans must have heard him. 

Virgil wanted to ask what he thought he was doing, but the muzzle was still on, and he only made a muffled sound before realizing he couldn’t speak. 

Moments later Logan came down the stairs. He looked as if he intended to talk to the other vampire, but got sidetracked as soon as he saw Virgil. 

“Virgil!” 

Logan immediately unbuckled the muzzle. “I apologize, I had not realized that you were left like this. If you turn I’ll take the handcuffs off as well.”

Virgil turned and Logan unlocked the handcuffs. 

“Thanks,” Virgil said, shrugging his shoulders to relieve the ache. 

“Are you also capable of hearing us?” Logan asked. 

Virgil nodded. 

“Yeah, ignore me. Makes me just so happy bae.” The other vampire said dryly. 

“In this case, would you be willing to accompany us?” Logan asked, now pointedly ignoring the other vampire. 

Virgil had no idea where he would be accompanying them to, since he’d been asleep when they discussed it, but with the slightly hopeful way Logan was looking at him, he didn’t want to refuse. And Logan had only just undone the cuffs. So it was less likely that it was somewhere that he would have to be cuffed. 

“Sure.”

Logan gave him a small smile. It was worth it. Wherever they were going, it was worth it to get that smile. 

  * •^*^••



It was not worth it. Not even for the smile. 

  
  


They were driving up to a warehouse, in the early, early morning. The sun would be up soon. The sweep for the night was over, and the humans were likely all dead asleep. 

Virgil wasn’t too worried about the sun. He was only turned, not full vampire, so while it did hurt, it wouldn’t kill him, and wearing long sleeves and something over his head did a world of good as far as that went. 

He was in the backseat of the car, with Logan sitting next to him. Roman was driving, and Patton was in the passenger seat. Patton still looked pale, but his face had an intense, determined look that stayed during the entire drive. 

Virgil still wasn’t entirely certain what they were doing, or why they needed him to do it, but he assumed that they’d just tell him what to do when they needed him. 

But then they reached the warehouse. As soon as they stepped out of the car Virgil heard it. It was the same as that barn, but more. So many more. How had humans managed to catch this many vampires? How were there even this many vampires near here at all? 

The door to the warehouse wasn’t locked, which only made Virgil feel more paranoid. The sound of crying beat down into his skull, turning his brain to mush. 

“-gil. Virgil!” Roman hissed. 

Virgil jumped, turning to face him. 

“Come inside, we need you.”

Virgil stepped into the warehouse, strongly tempted to cover his ears and curl into a whimpering ball. It hurt. It hurt to hear so many people crying. 

“Get this down,” Roman instructed, pointing at a coffin on the top of a stack. 

Virgil struggles to get it down. Not because it was too heavy, he could handle the weight. But it was a bit too large to grab easily with only one set of arms, and the trembling he could feel through the wood set his own hands to shaking. 

He set it on the ground. Roman pulled out a gun. 

“Are you going to kill them?” Virgil let out in a horrified whisper. 

“No!” Patton set a hand on his shoulder. “It’s just in case.” 

Logan and Patton opened the coffin. The vampire inside was blindfolded, muzzled, and cuffed in place with the silver cuffs. She shook, and twitched as she tried to figure out what was going on. 

Roman still stood at the ready, with his gun pointed at her head, but Logan and Patton were working quickly to get the cuffs off. They took off the blindfold and muzzle. 

“W-what are you doing? Who are you?” She whispered. 

“We’re letting you go. You’ve just got to promise you won’t hurt people.” Patton said, his voice remarkably calm and steady. It was the exact same tone he’d used to make Virgil feel safe when he first let him out of the coffin. 

The girl looked up into the barrel of the gun, and then back at Patton. “I promise.”

Patton helped her to her feet. “Then go. Don’t get caught again.”

She bolted out the door. 

Logan closed the coffin. “We don’t have much time. At six they’ll send someone out here to check. We have to be done and gone before that. If they all take that long, we only have enough time for five, maybe six.”

“We’ll just have to move faster then.” Patton said. 

“Get another one down, Virgil.” Roman said, his voice quiet, but no less commanding.

Virgil pulled down another coffin, and the process was repeated. It went without a hitch until the fourth one. As soon as he was released he lunged for Patton. Virgil shoved Patton back, and Roman fired his gun. The vampire slumped. 

The gunshot, though there was a silencer on it, still rang loudly. 

“Just leave the body in the coffin, stack them back up, we’ve got to leave. Now.” Logan said. 

Virgil was putting the last coffin back on the stack when there was a shout. 

“Hey!” And a gunshot. It didn’t hit any of them, but it still jump started them all into motion. 

“Stop! Don’t move!” The man had come in from the other side of the warehouse, but he was running already, and would reach them soon. 

There was another gunshot, and the gun went flying out of the man’s hand. He only barely broke stride, pulling out a small crossbow, already loaded. 

Virgil was running too, looking behind. He was the last one. Roman and Logan were already outside. He looked again. The man had his crossbow aimed at Patton’s back. 

“No!” Virgil shouted, and shoved Patton. 

An instant later a burning pain went through his thigh. Hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him along, and he was slumped into a car, the door barely shutting before it was speeding away. 

Virgil couldn’t speak, could barely see, because of the pain. It hurt worse than anything ever had. He heard a scream. 

The others were talking rapidly. 

“—to do!”

“—get it out!” 

“I’m coming—“

And then the silver rod was being pulled out. It didn’t come easily, and was the opposite of painless, but it did come out. Virgil slumped, slipping off the seat, praying for unconsciousness. 

  * •^*^••



Roman panted, holding the silver rod in his hand. There wasn’t much blood, which was a good thing. If it had been slippery they never would have gotten it out. 

He looked down at the vampire—at Virgil— who was shaking so violently it looked like convulsions. He looked at the hole in his thigh, which wasn’t healing nearly quickly enough. The hole he’d gotten because he took a shot for Patton. Why wasn’t he healing? 

“Logan! The hole isn’t closing!” 

Logan was driving, much faster than he usually would, but not erratically even still. 

It took a few seconds to get an answer. “Damn! He hasn’t eaten. Not in three—four weeks. I should have—“

“It’s alright, Lo, we’ll do something.” Patton said, ignoring the swear for once. 

Roman pulled Virgil up to a sitting position. His eyes were screwed shut, and pain was written all over his face. Roman held him up with one arm, and used his teeth to pull back the sleeve of his other arm. He pulled open Virgil’s jaw and jammed his wrist into his mouth. Logan hit a pothole at just that moment, which provided enough force to pierce the skin. 

Virgil eyes flew open, and he tried to pull back, to shake his head, but Roman was stronger than him at the moment, and held him in place. Roman waited until Virgil stopped shaking, and then let go, taking his hand back. 

There was silence in the car. Roman moved from his awkward kneeling position, and sat in the front seat beside Logan. They had bandages in the glove compartment, along with various weapons and other tools. Roman cleaned off his wrist and wrapped it up. 

“Never thought I’d do that.” He said, leaning his head back and staring out the window. 

“I don’t think anyone anticipated that,” Logan replied. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s another short one, but I’ve been super busy. Probably I won’t be able to write much more till after Christmas. I hope you enjoy!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Eight**

  * •^*^••



By the time they got back home, Virgil’s leg was only sore. His mind, however, was whirling. He’d bitten Roman. He’d  _ bitten _ Roman.  _ Roman!  _

He’d tried not to. He really had. And then he tried to take as little as possible even as every instinct screamed at him to eat. 

And this wasn’t even considering that he’d just about died. Patton had nearly died. All of them, really, that first shot didn’t have to miss like it had. 

He followed them inside, nervousness increasing with every silent step. 

“Is—“ he nearly couldn’t speak when they all turned to him. He looked to Roman, everywhere but his face. “Is your arm ok?”

His eyes finally settled on the wrapped bandage around Roman’s wrist. Roman held it up and unwrapped the bandage. 

“Yeah, it’s fine. Doesn’t hurt. See?” He turned his wrist towards Virgil. 

Virgil was shocked to see that the punctures weren’t bleeding, and had scabbed over smoothly. At this rate, they’d be gone in a day or two at most. Had he— had he actually gotten better at it?

He gave Roman a small smile, hoping that it showed his relief without looking like he was glad that he bit him or something. 

Then he just kind of stood awkwardly, not sure what to do. He had thought he’d be in the basement by now. But no. And the hunters were giving each other strange looks. 

Oh no, he really was in trouble. He knew, he  _ knew _ , that biting was the one thing hunters tried most to stop. He  _ knew _ that they’d be furious if he ever did anything like that. He’d  _ known _ and he’d still done it anyway! And it was Roman. Roman who hated him anyway. 

Patton took his arm, startling Virgil out of his thoughts and making him flinch. “Here, sit down.”

Virgil sat down on the couch, his heart pounding. Patton sat next to him, and Roman and Logan sat across from him on the other couch. 

“You were pretty out of it in the car, but we’ve been talking and— are you alright?”

In reality, Virgil’s chest felt like it was about to implode, but he just nodded. 

“Are you certain? You appear distressed. Has your leg fully healed?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, it’s, it’s fine.”

“Listen, what I want to know is why you took that bolt for Patton.” Roman said. 

That wasn’t what Virgil had been expecting. And maybe, it was his chance to get back out of trouble. 

“I didn’t want him to get hurt.”

“And you thought it’d be better if you got hurt?” Patton asked, worry written all over his face. 

“No, I— I didn’t think that far.” 

Patton nodded slowly. “Well, I wanted to thank you anyway.”

Virgil could scarcely believe it. 

“And, we all wanted to ask, would you join us? As a team? We’re going to keep trying to get the vampires out.” 

Virgil’s eyes went wide. “You want to do it again? We nearly died. And they’ll be sure to be on guard next time.”

“We do.” Logan said. “This time was… unplanned. In the future we would go into it better prepared.”

“And we want you with us.” Patton said. “On our team.”

Virgil swallowed. Patton seemed sincere, and so did Logan. But no one had ever really… wanted him. Not really. Even his mom had said she wished he hadn’t been there. He looked to Roman. 

Roman shrugged. “I don’t have to  _ like _ you to be on a team with you. But yeah, I agree with them. The four of us should work against the sweep.”

Virgil’s eyes went wide and he felt them prickle. “I—ok.”

“You’ll do it?” Patton said, his smile wide and excited. 

Virgil nodded, looking down. It was all just a bit too much. 

Suddenly Patton was hugging him. For a second Virgil had no idea what was happening and flinched away. But then it was solid, and soft, and even… safe? Whether or not it was safe, it was certainly the most pleasant thing he’d experienced in a very long time. It took him a few seconds before he was able to do anything at all, but when he could, he hugged back, not wanting to ever let go. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas felt rather lightheaded. For such a short little guy, Dee needed to eat quite a bit. But usually, and especially now, Thomas insisted that he not go out and find his own food. 

Thomas sank into the couch. He was going to watch movies, and maybe take a nap. And while he did that Dee was going to make him breakfast. 

He woke from a slight doze to a knock on the door. 

“ ‘m coming!” He stood up, swaying just a bit, and opened the door. 

It took him several seconds to recognize the man. He was another hunter. Thomas instantly became more alert. 

“Yes? Can I help you?”

“It has been noted that you have not participated in the sweep on any night since it began. I came to make sure nothing happened to you.”

“No, I’m fine. I just haven’t come.”

The man’s eyes swept over Thomas, snagging at his shoulder. “Is that- blood? Are you certain that you’re alright? I know that you have a vampire with you, is it under control?”

“Perfectly.” Thomas said icily. “I would like you to leave now.”

“I-if you aren’t coming to the sweep you need-to-send-a-form—“ the man tried to say, picking up his speed as Thomas began shutting the door in his face. 

Thomas leaned against the door and let out a sigh. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to keep Dee out of this. 

The man knocked again. Thomas ignored him. 

  * •^*^••



Logan excused himself from the room after the hug grew to be uncomfortably long. It seemed that the two participants were not uncomfortable, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t. 

He had barely reached his own room when his phone rang. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Logan?”

“It is.”

“I’m Thomas. You left your card with me?”

“Yes, I remember doing such.”

“I just— I wondered how it went, once you got back.”

“A variety of things happened. At the moment, however, I believe we have reached a position you would find favorable.”

“Oookay? What position is it?”

“Due to the current upheaval, I won’t be going into detail. Suffice it to say, Virgil now has the same position in our group as any other of us.”

“Oh. Ok. Um… about the ‘current upheaval’. What do you think about it?”

“I believe that one’s position on this kind of matter ought not to be discussed over the phone.”

“Ok, yeah, I can see that. Would you mind if I came over? I’d bring Dee with me if I did.”

“I would not be opposed to it, however I would have to consult the other members of the household before I give you any kind of confirmation.”

“Oh, yeah. Ok. You can call me back? Or just text if you’d rather. I also— don’t really know where you live.”

“In that case, I will text you shortly, and if the answer is in the affirmative, I will also send you the address.”

“Alright. Thank you.” 

“You are welcome.” Logan hung up. 

Hopefully when he went downstairs the hug would be over. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas put the lid back on the half-eaten container of breakfast. The ride had been shorter than he would have guessed. 

“Thanks for driving.”

Dee grimaced. “Still feels like I’m walking into my own doom.” 

Thomas put a hand on his shoulder. “Dee, I would die fighting before I let anyone take you.” 

The grimace turned into a sad smile, and a quiet “I know.”

Thomas knocked on the door first, with Dee a few steps behind him. If they opened the door with weapons, Dee was running. 

Patton opened the door, smiling. “Hi, Thomas! Hi, Dee! Come in!”

He held the door open. “Have you eaten? We were just about to have breakfast. There’s plenty.”

“If you’re sure it isn’t a problem,” Thomas said, still quite hungry and rather lightheaded. 

They walked into the dining area, where there were four other people. Two had plates, so Thomas assumed that the other two were vampires. One was nonchalant, if a little tense, and the other was jittery and nervous. 

Dee walked up to the jittery one, tapped his shoulder, and, ignoring the flinch, spoke quietly. “I would like to talk with you.”

The vampire’s eyes darted to Patton, who gave him a smile. 

“Ok. We can… go to the living room. Or the basement?”

Dee left with the vampire, and shortly after the other one followed them. 

Patton instructed Thomas to sit, and gave him a plate of food. 

“Thank you, Patton.”

“No problem! So, Logan said you came to talk about the sweep?”

Thomas really wasn’t sure how to do this. It’d be a death sentence if he came out and said he hated it and they were all for it. But at the same time, if he never gave any signs, they could be not saying anything for the same reason. “...I did, yes.”

The one hunter Thomas didn’t recognize groaned loudly. “Look, you either love it or hate it, and I’m guessing it’s hate, right?”

“I— uh... yes.”

“Great, then we all hate it,” he said. “We’re breaking out the vampires, wanna join?”

“Roman!” Logan exclaimed. 

Patton looked at Thomas, and Thomas could see the same fear in his eyes that had been roiling in his stomach since that first night. 

“I… think I would. Yes. How are you doing it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, question for the comments! 
> 
> I don’t think I want Emile ‘in the field’ but I also don’t think that Remy will let himself get left out of all the fun. What should Emile do? I mean, I guess they could just lie to Emile, but I think he’s too people smart to let that go on for too long.
> 
> Also, this fic has over 200 kudos???! Thank you!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is suuuuper late at night, but I just finished the chapter, so I’m posting now anyway. 
> 
> Also, a big thank you to Nichts, who made me think more deeply about Roman’s backstory and thus inspired this chapter!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Nine**

  * •^*^••



“I’m not buying it,” Dee said, crossing his arms against his chest. “Virgil’s told me all about you, and I’m not buying some quick turnaround. What makes a hunter suddenly turn against their own?”

“Thomas is a hunter too, isn’t he?” Roman asked. 

“You don’t know  _ anything _ about Thomas,” Dee growled. 

Thomas sent him a look. It was the ‘please be civil’ look that Dee had never liked. 

“What do you want from me then?” Roman asked. 

“I want you to explain yourself. Without lying.”

“Well it— I think it makes sense.” Patton said. “Maybe if we told you how Roman became a hunter, you’d understand?”

Dee scoffed. What did that have to do with anything? 

“We’d be happy to listen,” Thomas said. “And if we have more questions afterward, we can deal with that then.”

  
  


  * •^*^••



Roman had just graduated. He’d been getting the question a lot, “What are you going to do now?” And he’d been answering in much the same direction for several years. He’d like to become famous. Acting was his current fixation, but he wasn’t going to be picky. 

This time, though, something seemed much more serious. Summer was nearly over, and Roman was looking forward to not having school again in the fall. He’d been scouring the internet, searching out anything that could help him achieve his goal. Of course, since it was such a broad goal, there were a lot of leads, and a lot of red herrings. He wasn’t sure quite which direction to push in, but as soon as he figured it out he was going to pursue it with every fiber of his being. 

“So you haven’t thought at all about a more practical career? Or about college?” His dad asked, his tone icy and his face set. 

Roman should have caught those hints, but he missed them. “Everything I’m seeing suggests just going right into a more specialized kind of learning. Either a school that teaches acting specifically, or even just finding someone who used to act, and would be willing to teach one on one.” His eyes lit up as he started retelling all the things he’d read. 

“Roman.” His dad said firmly, cutting off the flow of words. “I’ve tried to dissuade you from this for years, and I’ve concluded that it’s impossible.”

Roman, somehow, didn’t properly interpret what his dad was saying. “So you’ll help me?!”

“No.”

His mom put her hand on his dad’s arm.

“No, I can’t stop you, but I refuse to support this in any way any longer.”

Roman gave a slightly confused frown. “Wha-- you, you never--you already don’t.”

“I do. I support these frivolous ideas by sheltering you from the world, by not letting you see what it’s really like. I won’t do it anymore. I will not have you remaining here until you’re thirty frittering away your time in worthless pursuit of fame.”

“I’m- I’m not even twenty yet. And I’m not frittering, I’m working hard.”

“You’ve spent the entire summer on your computer and off with friends!” His dad’s voice raised, prompting a warning squeeze from his mother.

“It’s--” Roman took a moment to gather his thoughts which were fracturing and evading him. “I’ve been researching, and practicing. I’ve been in three plays, and in one I was the leading role.”

His dad just shook his head. “And what good does that do you? You’ve made not one red cent. And you didn’t even move towards the fame thing! No one outside of this county has even heard of the plays. No. I’m done.”

“What-- what are you saying?”

“I’m saying you have a week to change your mind. If you don’t that’s fine, pursue your ‘dream’. But do it out of my house.”

Roman’s mouth fell open. His brain buzzed with static and left him unable to answer.

“If you won’t be reasonable, then I don’t want you back unless you make a name for yourself.”

“I know you can,” his mother interjected. “You can make a name for yourself. You can be the best, if that’s what you really want.”

Roman just couldn’t believe that she knew already and wasn’t protesting that he was getting kicked out. A week? How could he do anything in a week?

  * •^*^••



Roman pulled his jacket closer around him. It was unfairly cold, especially for September. Every time he sat down he felt like he’d freeze. 

To make it worse, it was now completely dark, and Roman was exhausted. 

There was a soft sound from behind him, and Roman spun. Someone was standing right behind him. 

“Oh! I’m sorry.” Roman said reflexively. 

“Not a problem, I’m the one who scared you.”

The man stared at Roman, perhaps a bit too intently. “Do you have somewhere to go?”

Even just thinking about it made the night seem colder by comparison. Roman shook his head.

“Why don’t you come with me?”

Roman should have been more wary. Really he should have been. But the barest hope of a house with heating and maybe even a bed had him nodding. 

The man smiled. “Let’s go then.”

Roman followed him like a puppy, innocent and trusting, until he turned in to what seemed to be a dead end alley.

“This-this isn’t--” Roman spun back around, but a steely grip on his shoulder kept him from running away. 

He was shoved into the wall, his head hitting hard enough to make him see stars.

“I-I don’t-- I don’t have any money. I swear! I-I’m no good for--”

He was cut off by a sudden pain in his neck. Flailing didn’t do anything, as he finally realized what was happening. 

“Don’t…” He said weakly, his knees starting to buckle and tears running down his face. “I don’t want to die…”

There was a shout, and the hands holding him up let go, dropping him into unconsciousness.

  * •^*^••



Roman woke up in a bed, covered with warm blankets, and in a quiet, dim room. He didn’t remember what had happened until he tried to sit up and couldn’t. Every bit of him felt weak and trembly. 

The door opened softly, and a boy around his own age peeked in. “Oh! You’re awake!”

“Where am I? What happened?”

“You got attacked by a vampire. Dad took care of it, though, so you’re safe now. We couldn’t figure out where you lived, so we brought you back home until you woke up. Dad’s not here, but I can take you home now, if you want.”

The boy smiled, and it was bright and guileless. But Roman wasn’t trusting his instincts again. They’d betrayed him enough times. Except that not one of them said anything other than that this boy was kind and trustworthy. 

“I… don’t have— I don’t have a home right now.” Roman admitted. 

And suddenly he was being hugged. It was over just as suddenly when the boy jerked back. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even ask! I just, I’m really sorry that you don’t have a home. You can stay with us! If you want to, I mean. I’m sure Dad will say yes. 

Oh! I’m Patton!” 

Roman couldn’t help but smile. And maybe tear up just a bit. “My name’s Roman.”

  * •^*^••



“Nah, kid. We aren’t small at all. I know hunters across the globe. Trust me, if you want to make a name for yourself, here is the place to do it.”

“How exactly would I become a hunter?”

“I’ll get you right in,” Patton’s dad said, grinning. He threw an arm around Patton’s shoulders. “The two of you can be a team. The best team anyone’s ever seen!”

  * •^*^••



It was his first solo mission. Well, solo in that Patton wasn’t there. 

They walked casually, as if out for only a stroll. Movement caught Roman’s eye, and he spun to see someone bolting in the opposite direction. 

“Good kid! That’s one of ‘em. They always run. Now get him!”

Roman raced after the vampire. He wasn’t going to be fast enough. 

From behind him there was a short twang, and the vampire stumbled and fell, letting out a stream of loud pained noises. Roman caught up quickly then. 

“Shut it up.” Patton’s dad commanded. 

Roman didn’t know what to do. His mind blanked. The vampire was on the ground, clutching its leg, almost screaming continuously. From near its ankle, a silver bolt protruded. 

Patton’s dad caught up, and quicker than Roman could have even moved, he had out a muzzle and slipped it over the vampire’s face. The panic and pain in its eyes spiked, and it was struggling to breathe through only its nose.

“It’s- you’re hurting it more,” Roman said, still not having budged. 

“It’s a vampire. It’s an animal, but worse, cause it hurts people. It’ll be dead soon anyway. Doesn’t take long when there’s silver inside ‘em.”

“It’s--no. No, it’s not-- It’s not right!”

Patton’s dad patted his shoulder, turning him away. “It’s alright. Patton’s got a weak stomach for some of this too. You’ll grow into it.”

“But it’s not right! We’re just leaving--just leaving him to die?”

“You’ll understand more when you go through training.” The arm circled around his shoulders, walking him away from the vampire. 

“But--”

“Let’s head home. You just aren’t quite ready yet. You’ll get there, I know you will.”

  * •^*^••



“Hey,” Patton said soothingly. “It’s alright. This is Roman, but he’s just going to stay over there and watch, ok?”

The vampire in the cell huddled against the back. 

“Do you remember me?” Patton asked, slowly getting out his key and unlocking the cell. 

The vampire nodded. 

“Oh, that’s good!” The cell was unlocked, and Patton opened the door. “So my dad sent me. He was all mad, so that wasn’t fun, but he said he won’t be mad anymore if you tell me where your house is.”

Patton stepped closer, still just as slow. “Now I do have to tell you that these are silver, but I don’t like using them.” Patton held up his hands, with a bracelet around each wrist. “So I absolutely won’t unless you try to bite me. I promise.”

The vampire just squeezed back farther into the corner. 

“I’m going to take off the muzzle, ok?”

Patton slowly, carefully reached behind the vampire’s head and undid the buckle. 

“You can’t bite me. Don’t forget.” He pulled the muzzle off and set it on the ground. “There. Is that better?”

“You’d have to kill me before I’ll tell you anything,” the vampire said, sounding like it had been supposed to be a hiss, but hadn’t succeeded in being at all intimidating. 

“No! I don’t want to kill you! Not at all!”

“What?”

“No, I promise.”

“Then… what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to talk to you.” Patton smiled. “It’s my job. I talk to vampires, and ask them to do things.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Whatever dad says. Mostly it’s just that they need to go somewhere, and they have to not bite anybody, or he wants to know something, like about your house. Or sometimes they get hurt, and I have to help them calm down so that they can be treated.”

“You— you  _ help  _ vampires?”

“Sometimes!” 

“I-if, if I tell you, will you help?”

“I’ll certainly try to.”

“Can you let me go? If I tell you will you let me go?”

“I can’t, no, but I can ask Dad to.” Patton gave another disarming smile. 

It was shortly after that the vampire gave Patton the address. Roman waited in the barn while Patton went inside to tell his dad. Soon after his dad came out. 

“Help me with this, Roman.”

He fitted the muzzle back on the vampire, and he and Roman led it to the truck and put it in the backseat. 

They drove quite a ways, and then Patton’s dad stopped the truck. He pulled the vampire out and shoved it so it fell to the ground. Roman saw the terror in its eyes for the last second before it died. Patton’s dad shoved the gun back into its holster. 

Roman was dumbfounded. 

“Now we wait. It’ll turn to dust in an hour or so.”

“What…?”

“Dead vampires turn to dust. I thought I told you that.”

“W-why did you just—“ Roman could barely finish the sentence. 

“It’s a vampire. It’s what I do, I kill vampires. I stop them from hurting other people. If I didn’t kill it, it would have killed other people.”

“Y-you don’t know that-“

“Did the one that nearly killed you seem that bad at first?” Patton’s dad asked. 

Roman shook his head, his eyes glazing over. 

“Neither did this one. Doesn’t make it incapable of hurting people.”

Roman turned away. 

On the way back home, he found his voice again. “Does Patton know?”

“No. He’s not old enough yet.”

“We’re the same age.”

“But you aren’t the same. Don’t tell him about this, understand?”

With the hard eyes fixed on him, Roman nodded. 

  * •^*^••



Roman was taken into a large warehouse. 

“Just watch the cells for a while so we can talk. That’s it. Don’t mess with any of them.”

Roman nodded. 

He stood in front of the row of cells. At the end he was at, they seemed pretty normal, but he could see that at one point along the line the metal was different, probably silver. He walked along the line of cells. Inside most was a vampire, or several, cuffed and muzzled. Then he got to the silver cells. 

Only one of the three cells had an inhabitant. The cell was small enough that, with the vampire laying on the ground, its hands were cuffed to the bars on one side, and its ankles to the bars on the other. The cuffs looked like they were made out of silver also. It was muzzled, but with one that permitted it to speak. 

Roman felt his heart start beating faster. He was scared, but he didn’t think he was scared of the vampire. More like he was scared of the person who would have done something like this. 

He touched the door, and was surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed it open, and stepped inside. 

The vampire’s eyes snapped open, and then squeezed shut. Its whole body tensed, and pulled away from him as much as it could. 

“I’m not— I’m not gonna hurt you.” Roman said. 

The vampire’s eyes opened again. It stared at him for several seconds before its eyes welled up with tears. 

“Then help me, please!” It rasped. “It hurts.”

Roman knelt down next to the vampire. The cuffs must be silver, each one was digging layers deep into ruined skin. 

He pulled the key to his handcuffs out of his pocket. Maybe it would fit? He undid the ankles first, and then the wrists. 

“Thank you! Thank you, thank you!” The vampire said over and over again. 

Roman helped the vampire to its feet, and let it lean on him while he helped it out of the cell. But the instant they had left the cell pain flared from his shoulder. 

Roman tried to push the vampire off, but somehow it was stronger than he was, and shoved him to the floor, still draining him. And then it stopped. 

The vampire went quickly to the other cells, ripping them open and freeing the other vampires. 

Several ran straight for Roman, seizing whatever part of him was nearest and sinking teeth into it. 

Roman screamed, and at the same time an alarm went off. Humans flooded the room and the vampires were being gunned down. 

“—not to mess with them! The ones in silver— — For a reason! They’re dangerous!—“ someone was yelling at him, but he couldn’t pay attention. 

  * •^*^••



“And after I got better from that, for a long time, I believed them when they said that vampires were like animals, but worse,” Roman said. “But with Virgil… I just couldn’t believe it anymore.”

There was silence in the room for a bit. 

“So how are we getting the vampires out?” Dee asked. “And how are we picking which ones?”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment, it feeds my brain and makes more chapters come faster! Especially anything like questions or theories!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a really long time because I had several other projects that demanded my attention, and wouldn’t be ignored. But it’s here now!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Ten**

  * •^*^••



“No.” Emile said firmly. “I won’t let all of you run off and do this impulsively. You don’t know what the consequences of releasing scared, angry vampires could be. And you aren’t at all prepared for what you’re going to do if one of you gets hurt, much less captured or killed. Make an actual plan first.”

“Well, like what?” Patton asked. 

“I don’t know, I’ve only just been told about it.” Emile said. “For starters, I’d like to have a private conversation with Virgil, and Dee, and Remy.”

Logan nodded. “That would be acceptable. I believe they are all in the basement at the moment.”

Emile nodded back at him. “Thank you. If you have come up with a plan by the time we’re done down there, I would be happy to hear it.”

Emile went downstairs. As soon as he actually saw Remy, and saw that he was fine, and not locked up, he felt much better about everything. “Remy!”

Remy spun around. “Emile!” Remy accepted the bear hug, and hugged right back, which was not something he did all that often. “It’s so loud and stinks so bad here I didn’t know you were coming.”

Emile let go and held him at arm’s length, scanning him up and down. “You’re alright?”

Remy gave a dismissive shake of his head and smiled. “I am now.”

“What happened? Tell me about it.”

“Eh, it wasn’t all that big a deal,” Remy said. “After you left I was stuck down here a while, they ran off with Virge and had some kind of adventure, and then Dee showed up, and now we’re going human hunting.”

“I’m getting the feeling that that’s a drastic oversimplification.” Emile said. “But we can talk about it later if you want. I would like to get to know you two, Dee and Virgil?”

Virgil nodded. 

Dee frowned. “I don’t know anything about you. But since you asked, it’s a miracle, I really want to open up to you now.” 

Remy slung an arm protectively around Emile’s shoulders, nearly growling at the other vampire. “He’s  _ my _ human. Knock it off.”

Emile kept a calm smile on his face, despite the tension, and turned to the third vampire. “Virgil. Is that your chosen name?”

“Uh, well I was, born with it, I didn’t pick.”

“But do you choose to be called by it?”

Virgil gave a slight frown, as if he hadn’t considered his own choice in regards to his name. “Uh, yeah.”

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you, Virgil.” Emile said, holding out his hand. 

Virgil shook his hand. “Yeah, you too. You um… you don’t…” he trailed off. 

“I don’t stink?” Emile guessed. 

Virgil nodded. “How do you… and Remy…?”

“It’s cause he’s my human,” Remy answered, taking a break from glaring at Dee. “I captured him, not the other way around.”

Emile nodded. It was oversimplified, like many things Remy said, but it would work. “And I’m not a hunter, I’ve never killed a vampire.”

Virgil nodded, fidgeting with his hands. 

“Why don’t we sit down?” Emile suggested. “I’d like to hear your stories, and it would be nice if we were all comfortable.”

Emile sat down first, followed quickly by Remy, who lounged against him, and closed his eyes as if he intended to go to sleep. Dee still glared suspiciously, but sat down on the other couch. Virgil grabbed something from inside one of the cells, and then sat down next to Dee. It was a fidget cube, and he rolled it back and forth before settling on a side he could fidget with without noise. 

“So what’s your story, Virgil?” Emile asked.

“From when?” Virgil asked. 

“Whenever you’re comfortable with sharing.” 

Virgil frowned slightly, glancing down. “Well, uh, I got turned when I was sixteen. Two years after that hunters killed my sire and captured me. Th-they stuck in a coffin for a long time, and then shipped me here.”

“It was a silvered coffin,” Remy said bitterly. “They still have it upstairs.” 

Virgil shivered, and paled. He bit his lip, and squeezed the cube tightly between his fingers. “Yeah…”

Now that was extremely concerning news. “Virgil, do you want me to get you out of here?” Emile asked. “Between me and Remy I can promise you we’ll get you out and you won’t have to see them again.”

“I-I don’t think they’re going to hurt me,” Virgil said, his voice nearly a whisper. 

“That isn’t what I asked,” Emile said kindly. “Do you want me to take you away from here?”

“I-it’s not safe anywhere else, either.” Virgil said. “And I want to be able to help. And they aren’t— they aren’t mean. I think they really want to help now.”

“That’s fine. But if you want to help somewhere else, I’ll take you. I can’t promise nothing will happen, but I will do everything I can to make sure you’re safe.”

“They… they want me on their team,” Virgil said. 

“I’m glad they do, you would probably be very helpful to anyone if you were on their team. But not if you don’t want to. You don’t have to do things because other people want you to. Do you want to leave or stay?”

“I-I think I want to stay.”

Emile nodded. 

“If—“ Virgil looked up and met his eyes. “If something happens— or…”

“If you ever change your mind, the offer still stands.” Emile said firmly. 

Virgil nodded, relaxing considerably. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Virgil.” Emile turned to Dee. “Dee? Is that your chosen name?”

Dee’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

Emile stuck his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Dee.”

Dee hmphed, and didn’t make any move to return the gesture. Emile retracted his hand. 

“Would you mind telling me your story?”

“I do mind.” Dee suddenly bristled. “And if you even suggest taking me away from Thomas I swear I’ll attack you right now.”

Emile held up his hands. “I didn’t mean to offend. I apologize.”

  * •^*^••



They did… not really have a plan. None of them wanted to have a repeat of the last mission, but good ideas were few and far between. And there was also the vampires to consider. Not all of them were good. Maybe not even most of them. They couldn’t just let angry, violent vampires loose to do whatever. But could they hold them? And how long could they do it? And what would determine whether they held a vampire or let them go? 

And what they would do if one of them was hurt or captured remained a very large, very unanswered question. 

And none of these questions had a satisfactory answer by the time Emile returned. 

“I am willing to help you,” Emile said. “But I have several conditions. First, you must have a plan before you do anything. Second, anyone who wants to must be able to leave at any time. And third, I demand you destroy that thing.” He pointed to the coffin, still leaning against the far wall. 

“I forgot we had that,” Patton muttered. “Yeah, I’ll burn it.”

“And people can leave,” Roman said. “But if they do, they can’t tell anyone what we’re doing.”

Emile nodded. 

“We do not yet have a plan, but we will construct one before we attempt another mission.” Logan concluded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They do not have a plan because I do not have a plan, so any brilliant minds out there that want to offer suggestions of answers to the questions, please do!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think I may try to put out chapters on Tuesdays, if that’s at all possible. That way I won’t freeze for ideas, and it’ll be more scheduled.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Eleven**

  * •^*^••



It was three days before they worked out all the details. 

“It could work,” Dee admitted. “As long as we all play the right part.”

“Then are we agreed? This is the plan we will use?” Logan asked.

There were nods all around. 

“Then we’ll meet back up tomorrow night.”

  * •^*^••



Virgil bit his thumb anxiously. Just a few more minutes. He just had to act casual for a few more minutes. He glanced around the gas station, careful not to meet eyes with anyone. It didn’t stink, so there were no trained hunters here, but anyone could potentially have a weapon and be willing to use it. 

Virgil picked up a bag of what used to be his favorite candy. He hadn’t really tried eating anything since he’d been turned. It wouldn’t make him any less hungry, but he wondered if it would make him sick. Could he still taste normal food? 

The stink assailed him as soon as the door opened, and he spun around. It was just Roman. Ok. He just had to play his part. He kept his eyes firmly fixed on Roman as he walked closer. Virgil was a little hungry, but he fed into the instinct, hoping it would be enough that his eyes would start to glow red, identifying him clearly as a vampire. 

As soon as Roman walked by the end of the aisle, Virgil let out a loud, angry shout, and launched himself at him, going straight for his throat. All eyes were on them, and there was a terrified scream from somewhere. There was a brief tussle, since Virgil was stronger, before Roman pulled out the silver rod, pressing it into Virgil’s skin in clear view of the onlookers. The pained howl Virgil let out had very little to do with acting, and soon Roman had him trussed up with cuffs and muzzle on the ground. 

“There is nothing to fear, good people!” Roman said, half sitting on Virgil, and still holding the rod threateningly. “I will remove the vermin from your sight.”

And then Roman was swarmed with a crowd of people, all complimenting him and thanking him for protecting them from the vampire. Roman had his badge displayed prominently on his chest, and there were several comments about how they wished some of the other hunters could deal with situations as cleanly as he had. 

The two of them thus held the attention of every person in the gas station for the next ten minutes. Then Roman hauled Virgil to his feet and dragged him outside, with Virgil putting up a fake resistance that was easily ‘overcome’ by Roman. 

Roman shoved him into his car, and they drove off. 

“Virge, you alright?”

Virgil twisted his hands around to pull the key out of his pocket and undo the cuffs. He took off the muzzle, grimacing at the spit and tears he’d gotten all over it. 

“Silver really hurts, you know. Didn’t have to leave it on that long.”

Roman turned away from the road to look at Virgil, probably able to see the welt that was still on his shoulder and neck. His eyes were wide and worried. 

“Sorry, I was trying to make it convincing.”

“It’s fine. Hand me your phone, I want to call Patton.”

Roman fished his phone out of his pocket. “Here.”

Virgil dialed Patton. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, Pat, how’d it go?”

“Well, I’ve got it. It’s weird, though. I’ve never driven anything this big before. You two did a good job. How are you doing?”

“Alright. I should probably eat something soon.”

“Are you hurt?!”

“No! No, just hungry.”

“Oh, good. I’m going to hang up now. See you in a bit!”

“Yeah, see you, Pat.”

“How’d it go?” Roman asked.

“He’s got the truck, and seems to be doing fine.” Virgil pulled out the pack of wipes from under his seat and cleaned off his face and the muzzle.

“If you’re hungry, we can stop for a bit. Until Emile calls I won’t know where to go.”

“Yeah, once we get further away. I don’t want someone driving by and recognizing me.”

  * •^*^••



“So what are we doing with the humans?” Dee asked, already unbuckling as Thomas parked the car. 

“Knocked out as soon as possible. Don’t let anyone see your face.” Thomas answered, as he had the previous time Dee had asked. Dee had been hoping for the answer to change, but he didn’t protest, pulling the hat down over his face and adjusting so he could see through the cut holes. 

“I’ll call when I’ve got them out,” Dee said, hopping out of the car and racing towards the house. 

He was faster than many vampires, and had the advantage of surprise, super-human strength, and a blunt weapon. Soon the man living in the house was knocked out, and probably concussed. 

Dee dragged him out to the car and tied him up in case he woke sooner than expected.

“Is this the only one?” Thomas asked.

“The only one I found. Let’s get inside the warehouse.”

Dee didn’t bother with looking for keys. The warehouse had been locked since the last time, but he was able to break the chain. As soon as the door was open, the sound of crying floated out on the wind. Dee winced, and put his hands over his ears. Not that it helped any. 

All the vampires were inside the coffins, except one. He was tied against the wall, with more silver around him than could possibly be necessary. There was old blood staining the floor by his feet.

As soon as Thomas stepped inside the warehouse, his eyes shot open, and he lunged at him. Dee jumped in front of him automatically, but the vampire could barely move from all the silver cuffs. He let out a scream and his back arched. After a moment his scream devolved into a pained laugh. 

“Whatever you think…” he gasped. “It’s not happening.”

Thomas took a step forward, and so did Dee, to stay ahead of him. “What did they do to you?”

The vampire laughed again, and jerked against the many cuffs, which just dug them into his skin and wrenched another scream out of him. He sagged against the wall. “What did  _ you _ … do to  _ him _ ?” He asked, pointing at Dee with his chin. 

“He took me away from people that hurt me,” Dee said. “We came to get you all out.”

The vampire gave a dry laugh, wincing in pain, and turning it into a crooked smile. “Not all of them are as sane, or as alive, as I am.”

Dee stepped closer, mindful to keep himself in between Thomas and the vampire. “Will you help us?”

“Let me down first, and then we’ll see.” The vampire gave a smile that would almost have been flirty if not for the pain covering his face. 

“If we let you down and you go after Thomas I will rip your throat out,” Dee threatened, his face curling into a snarl. 

“Sure thing, snakey,” the vampire said. 

Dee’s face curled in displeasure and confusion. Snakey? What part of him was supposed to resemble a snake?

Thomas was already fishing out a key and undoing the cuffs holding the vampire to the wall. As soon as he was released, the vampire wandered away, ignoring any attempt from either Thomas or Dee to call him back. 

“You can’t tell anyone about us,” Thomas yelled after him. 

The vampire burst into insane giggles, but continued walking away. 

Patton arrived soon after, driving a stolen semi. Thomas, Patton, and Dee loaded up the full coffins into the semi. In all, there were thirty-two. There were quite a few more empty coffins, and they pulled out the silver cuffs from all of them. If nothing else, they could be melted and reformed into something much more useful. 

Thomas got into the car, and Patton into the semi, and they both drove a ways off. Dee got to do his favorite part. He pulled the few useful things out of the house, and then poured gas all over both the house and the barn, and then lit them on fire. There would be no traces to let investigators know who had freed the vampires. 

He jogged back to the car, and was surprised to see someone already there, leaning on the window and talking with Thomas. And a cow? 

It was the other vampire. He was petting the cow and chatting with Thomas, who looked wildly uncomfortable. 

“Oh, hey!” The vampire called out as Dee approached. “I’m Remus, and I’m joining you.”

  * •^*^••



Emile watched as Remy got out of the car and sized up the large house, with its many outbuildings and land. Remy came around to his window and handed Emile his glasses. 

“Put these on. Don’t watch, and don’t listen. I’ll be back when I’m done.”

So Emile closed the car window, put on the heavily tinted sunglasses, and turned up the music loud. He didn’t know exactly how Remy did it, but he could hypnotize nearly anyone he wanted, given enough time. He’d promised Emile that the people wouldn’t get hurt, and that he’d get them a new house somehow that was worth as much as this one they were taking. 

Remy wasn’t exactly rich, but he had a million and one favors owed to him, which were frequently used by Emile insisting that he not let people get hurt in any way. 

It was about an hour later that Remy came back. He wouldn’t look at Emile until he had his glasses back on, but then he smiled. 

“Want a tour of our new house?”

“That would be nice, yes.”

The house was large, and very farmhouse-y. It was a wreck, and clearly the people who had lived there had rushed and panicked over the packing. Although, with it only taking an hour, they would have had to. 

There was a living room, and a kitchen, but every other room of the house, whether suited to it or not, was a bedroom. There was also a basement, and the various outbuildings. 

“They said there’s nearly a thousand cows inside that fence,” Remy said, gesturing out a window. 

The fenced in field was large enough that Emile could only see about twenty cows, and see that the area stretched far into the distance. 

“I think this was a good pick,” Emile said. 

Remy flashed a dazzling grin. 

Emile called Patton, Roman, and Logan, and told them that they were ready, giving them the exact address. 

  * •^*^••



They were all gathered outside the semi, including Remus, who was now sitting on his cow’s back. 

“Well,” Logan said. “Now comes the hard part.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remus has entered the fray! And we get a bit of a peak at what Remy’s powers are. 
> 
> The question is, how do they separate the ‘good’ vampires from the ‘bad’ vampires? Are they even capable of making that kind of divide? Or will they have to settle for sane/insane?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s over 300 kudos! And over 2500 hits! And nearly 100 subscriptions! And so so many nice comments! I’m so happy! Thank you all!
> 
> Enjoy a chapter with more fluff than any yet!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twelve**

  * •^*^••



“Well, to start with, we can unload the coffins,” Roman said, pulling the doors open. 

“Whatcha doing?” Remus asked. 

“We are attempting to divide the vampires between those that are willing to coexist peaceably with humans, and those that are not,” Logan said. 

“What are you gonna do with them?” Remus asked. 

“The ones that are willing to live peaceably, we had intended to invite to stay and help us. As for the others, I’m not yet sure.”

Remus smiled widely. “Oh, that’s good. I hoped that’s what you were doing. I’ll take the others.”

“Take them where?” Patton asked. 

Remus fixed him with a crazed look. “You really wanna know?”

Patton frowned. “Do I?”

Remus laughed, the sound grating. “Probably not.”

Suddenly from inside the coffins there was a number of sounds, sounds that weren’t scared or pained. 

“Come on! Let’s get them out!” Remus said, leaping off his cow and pulling the coffins out of the semi, handing them off to the other vampires. 

Soon they were all laid out on the ground. Roman opened one, freeing the vampire slowly, ready the whole while in case they decided to attack him. 

As soon as the muzzle was off they spoke. “Remus!”

“Hi!” Remus said, focusing on opening another coffin. 

“I thought they’d killed you!”

“Not dead!” Remus announced, pulling a vampire into a sitting position. “Oh, and you’re staying here.”

“What? No! I want to come with you!”

“Nu uh. You’re too nice for that.”

The vampire frowned. “What are you doing then?”

“Oh, you’ll see,” Remus said, moving on to another coffin. “I’ll let you visit if you want. What are the rest of you doing? Help get them all out!”

Soon there was a chaotic mess of movement, and many tears were shed as the vampires were freed. Roman was surprised that none of the vampires started trying to attack them. Neither did any of them try to run off. Most seemed content to stand or sit nearby, nursing sore ankles and wrists. 

Remy wasn’t doing much but glaring at the small crowd, and Roman assumed that he was doing some kind of mind control to help keep things safe and relatively sane. Emile had said that Remy could control both humans and vampires to an extent, but had never elaborated on what that meant. 

Remus was surrounded by a mass of vampires, all seemingly adoring him. 

“Did you…” Virgil started, trailing off as many eyes turned to face him. “Did you sire all of these?”

“Just most,” Remus said, slinging an arm over the shoulders of two of them. “Hunters could never have caught me if they didn’t have hostages. 

Logan shut the last coffin, and now all were empty. 

“Alright, bro, I’m heading out,” Remus said, facing Roman. 

“Bro?” Roman said, utterly confused, but Remus just continued. 

“And I’m taking you with me, and you, and you,” Remus started pointing out vampires, until he’d gathered nearby fifteen of them. He held up his hand near Remy. 

“Not touching that, Gurl.”

Remus turned back, and got several high-fives from the vampires. 

He leapt onto his cow, where did he even get it from? And started riding off at a meandering pace as the cow plodded on. Somehow, only the vampires he had picked followed him, and he went off into the distance. 

“That was… strange.” Thomas commented. 

Roman nodded. 

Remy snapped, and the rest of the vampires, including Virgil and Dee, turned to face him. “Come on, all you gurls are gonna have a talk with me and Em.”

  * •^*^••



There were loads of bedrooms in the house, but not enough for everyone to have their own rooms. Patton wasn’t sure how they were going to manage any more vampires than they already had. 

He ended up taking the last room, and Virgil with him, since Virgil… well, he had some troubles standing up for himself. Patton hoped that Virgil actually didn’t mind sharing with him, and wasn’t just saying it to be nice or accommodating. 

Whatever Remus and Remy had done, it worked. All the vampires that were staying in the house seemed to be nice, or at least polite. A few cows had wandered near the house, and that served as dinner for the vampires, though they were careful not to take too much and kill the cows. 

It was nighttime now, and the day had been very long and full, and also crazy. Patton’s body was exhausted, but his mind was full, and still spinning a bit. He got dressed for bed and sat down on the bed, feeling like he was thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. 

The door opened, and Virgil very hesitantly came into the room. He gave a slight wave, not really looking at Patton. He made a vague gesture toward the other bed. 

“Uh, can I-?”

“Yeah! Yeah, it’s yours, Virgil.”

Virgil gave a nervous half smile, and sat down on the other bed, still not looking Patton in the eyes. 

“If you’re uncomfortable,” Patton said, frowning in concern. “I can still move to another room. You don’t have to stay here with me.”

“What? No. No I— I thought it was the other way around.”

“Oh, no. I’m not going to kick you out! Don’t worry.”

Virgil finally looked up at him. “I’m a vampire, Patton. I could— I could lose control. I could hurt you.”

Patton shook his head. “No. Have you ever even done that?” 

Virgil nodded. 

Patton frowned slightly. He hadn’t thought Virgil would be the type of person to lose control. “But you ate just earlier, didn’t you?”

Virgil looked away again, shaking his head. “Emile called before there was a chance.”

“Virgil, if you’re hungry—“

Virgil shook his head determinedly, his lips pressed together. 

Patton frowned deeper, searching for the right thing to say. “Why not?”

Virgil covered his face in his hands, clenching fingers on his hair. “I hurt people. I don’t— I’m  _ not  _ going to hurt you.”

“Then you won’t,” Patton said, getting up to sit next to Virgil. 

“No, I don’t know how, Patton! I can’t do it without hurting people.”

Patton set a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, and despite the initial flinch, he leaned into it. “What would help you?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil said miserably. “My sire said practice, but that hasn’t done much good.”

“We can try practice. I want to help you, Virgil.”

“I have to hurt someone to practice. I don’t want to.

Patton moved to gently pull Virgil’s hands away from his face. “I  _ want  _ to help you.”

Tears slipped down his face. “I don’t want to hurt you, Patton, please!” 

Patton pulled Virgil into a hug, rocking him slowly. “Shh, it’s alright. It’s alright.” 

Virgil sobbed into his chest, his hands fisting in Patton’s shirt. 

“You don’t have to hurt people,” Patton said. “Vampires don’t always have to be dangerous. If anyone can do it, I know you can.”

“What if I can’t?” Virgil sobbed. “What if I hurt you and I can’t fix it?”

There was a knock at the door. Virgil bolted up, scrubbing at his eyes. 

Dee poked his head in. “Sorry. The walls are thin.”

“Did you need something?” Patton asked. 

Dee’s mouth twisted and he ran a hand through his hair, flushing slightly. “No, I… I just— if you want to practice, I can, I can help fix things if it goes south.”

Patton looked hopefully at Virgil. 

Virgil was trembly and wide-eyed, as if he’d been cornered. 

“If you get through this,” Dee said, “it makes a lot of things better.”

Virgil nodded, his face scrunching as more tears fell from his eyes. 

Dee stepped completely into the room, shutting the door. “Patton, move over here.” 

Patton moved to where he was sitting cross legged on the bed. 

“Virgil,” Dee said, gesturing to Patton’s lap. 

Virgil moved, very nearly sitting in Patton’s lap, his mouth shut tightly. Patton instinctively wrapped him in a hug. 

“Good,” Dee said, resting a hand on the back of Patton’s neck. “Now, Virgil, you don’t have to take much. If you’re going to be practicing, just take a little. It’ll be safer and easier.”

Virgil nodded, though tears were still falling from his eyes. 

Patton flinched as the fangs pierced his skin. Virgil made a pained noise, and Patton felt tears dropping onto his shoulder. 

“It’s alright. You’re both fine.” Dee said. “You can do this.”

It was actually a very strange feeling, Patton thought. He rubbed his one hand along Virgil’s back, not wanting to move the other in case it messed something up. It, well, if he was being truthful it did hurt, but it was probably nowhere near what Virgil was imagining. 

Virgil was starting to pull away, but Dee set a hand on his head. “Focus on the healing first. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but try your best.” 

Virgil gave a short hum of acknowledgement, which sent shivers across Patton’s skin. Then he pulled back, searching Patton’s face. 

Patton smiled. “I’m fine. You did great, Virgil.” He pulled Virgil back into a hug. 

“I-it’s not healing,” Virgil said hopelessly. 

“Yes, they are,” Dee said. “Look again.” 

Patton twisted his head, trying to see his own shoulder, but he couldn’t. “Well, it barely hurts anymore.”

“I did hurt you!” Virgil said, his voice soaked with tears. 

“Shh, it’s ok,” Patton said, pulling Virgil closer. “You’re still learning.”

It took a while after that, but once Virgil calmed down he quickly fell asleep. 

“Thank you,” Patton said to Dee. 

Dee gave a wry smile. “I’ve been there. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone. See you in the morning.”

  * •^*^••



Patton was woken by a strangled sob. He sat up, disoriented, before realizing it was Virgil. Virgil was sitting up in his bed, his fist jammed into his mouth. 

“S-sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.” Virgil said. 

Patton scootched over in his bed, folding back the blanket and patting the mattress. 

Virgil didn’t move. 

“Come on,” Patton said, yawning. “It’ll help you feel better.”

Virgil slowly unfolded himself and laid down next to Patton, careful not to touch. Patton draped an arm over him and promptly fell asleep again. 

  * •^*^••



When Virgil woke in the morning, Patton was clinging to him as if he was a teddy bear. He felt… good. As if he had been starving and didn’t realize it until he’d eaten. Patton had been right, he did feel better. 

He could see Patton’s shoulder, where there was a bit of dried blood, but no punctures anymore. 

Maybe… maybe things would turn out alright. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! New chapter! Yay! This work now has 100 subscriptions! 100 people will get an email about this chapter! It makes me so happy!
> 
> Also, non graphic description of throwing up at the end, so watch out if you’d have a problem with that.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Thirteen**

  * •^*^••



From outside the bedroom, things started getting louder. There was the noise of people shuffling around, waking up, clanging of pans from the kitchen, running water. 

“Listen, I don’t care! I don’t trust any one of you!”

That woke up Patton, and both he and Virgil went out to see what was going on. 

Remy was in the living room, holding up Emile, who looked considerably less worried, and considerably more patiently exasperated. 

“What’s going on?” Patton asked. 

Instead of properly answering Patton, Remy fixed his eyes on Virgil. “You!”

Virgil took a step back, “I didn’t— I only just got up!”

“Exactly. You wouldn’t hurt a fly if it bit you first. Take Emile.”

Virgil found Emile dumped in his arms. “Eh-wha?”

“Thank you, Virgil, you can set me down now.”

Virgil set Emile down. “What’s going on?”

Remy rolled his eyes. “I’ve gotta leave with Logan, and I’m not about to leave Emile alone with these bi-“

“Language,” Patton interrupted. 

Remy grumbled. He turned halfway, to see Logan waiting by the door. 

“You keep him safe!” Remy said firmly. “Or so help me it’ll be your head rolling tonight.” 

Remy stalked away, slamming the door on his way out. 

Virgil gulped. There was no way he could protect himself, let alone a human, against all these vampires if they decided to attack. 

“Ok, party’s over,” Emile said, his voice cheery despite all that had just happened. “If you need something to do I’m sure I can find you something.”

At that, the majority of the vampires crowding the living room dissipated. 

Virgil let out a breath. That made things easier, but the sudden and unexpected responsibility still weighed heavy on his shoulders. 

“You’ll be fine,” Emile said, hunkering down a bit so he could look into Virgil’s eyes even though Virgil had his head tipped toward the ground. “I’m pretty certain I can handle myself, and even if I can’t, I won’t let Remy do anything to you.”

“So are you and Virgil gonna hang out today?” Patton asked, coming back from the kitchen with a cup of coffee. 

“If Virgil doesn’t mind,” Emile said. 

Virgil just blinked. His mind was all fuzzy, and he wanted to sit down. He just nodded. 

  * •^*^••



“I just… don’t quite trust it.” Roman said, driving the four wheeler. 

Dee was riding behind him, and very pointedly not holding on to him, despite the jerking as they drove around the pasture. “I don’t either. We don’t know anything about him.”

They were looking for Remus, but so far had seen no signs of any vampires at all. 

“Do you think he just took them all and left?”

“It’s definitely impossible,” Dee said flatly. There was not a hint of sarcasm in his tone, yet Roman had the distinct impression that he was being made fun of. 

It was a while later that they went over a hill, and found the vampires at the bottom. They were… skinny dipping? It wasn’t even summer, or very warm at all. 

“Bro! Snakey! Come on in!”

“That water is filled with cow pee,” Dee said. “You’d have to drag me in.”

“Oh, I can do that!”

“No!” Roman interrupted. “Please, just, get back in the water. Or at least put your clothes on.”

Remus sank down in the muddy water, blowing bubbles. 

Roman cringed at the thought of having his mouth anywhere near the water. 

“Is this just a visit?” One of the other vampires asked. 

“Uh, more or less,” Roman said. 

“Damn!” The vampire said, and was echoed by several disappointed groans. 

Remus broke into a triumphant laugh. 

“Let me guess, you’ll never tell us what that’s all about,” Dee said. 

“I said we could only kill people that didn’t come for a visit,” Remus said. “And my bro looks tasty, even if he does smell bad.”

“I do not!” Roman blustered. “And I’m an only child.”

Remus shrugged. 

“You intend to stay here then?” Dee asked. 

Remus shrugged again. “Until it gets boring.”

“Let’s head back,” Dee said. 

“What? Now? We didn’t even—“

“Go home, Hunter,” one of the other vampires said, and soon, encouraged by Remus himself, they were all chanting at Roman to go home. 

Roman didn’t like it. But he left. 

“What was that all about?!” He said, once they were probably out of earshot of the vampires. 

“I can force people to tell me the truth. He wasn’t lying. And if we leave him to it he’ll stop the rest of them from attacking people for no reason.”

  * •^*^••



“I may be amazing, but I can’t just pull it out of nowhere,” Remy said. “I’m done.”

“We’ve only gone to two locations!” Logan said, already beyond exasperated. 

Remy shrugged. “I’m done.” He walked away. 

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Where?!”

“Does it matter? I’ll find my own way home.”

“We haven’t accomplished any of the tasks we set out to do!”

Remy shrugged. “Look, tough luck, gurl. Chill. We’ll try again next week.”

“What about Emile?”

Remy looked at Logan over the top of his sunglasses, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is that a threat?”

“No. But you’d just leave him without warning?”

Remy shrugged again, his whole body relaxing into a casual posture. “He’s got a little baby vampire to take care of, he won’t get in trouble.”

“And he won’t worry about you?”

“Not with Virgil to worry about. And chill, I’ll call him if I wanna stay out more than a day or two. Not like  _ you _ actually care.”

And then Remy zipped away, faster by far than a human could, and yet still managing to make his movements look casual. 

  * •^*^••



Things had been far easier than Virgil had assumed. He’d spent a large portion of the day sitting watching cartoons with Emile. Mostly one called Avatar, the Last Airbender. 

Emile stretched and got up. “Well, I guess I’ll make dinner tonight.” 

Virgil followed and sat on the counter, swinging his legs and watching as Emile pulled out ingredients. 

“Does…” his voice, already quiet, trailed off. 

“Does what?” Emile asked. 

“Does Zuko ever go back to his dad? After—after what happened?”

“Well, that would be a spoiler! I could tell you if you really want, but I’d be happy to keep watching with you, and let you see yourself.” 

Virgil nodded. 

“Why do you ask?” 

Virgil’s mouth went dry. “Well… um.. just— it’s a long story.”

“I’d be happy to hear it, if you don’t mind telling me.”

Virgil was silent for several minutes. 

“My um, my dad was a vampire.”

Emile nodded, flashing Virgil just enough eye contact to show that he was listening without being overwhelming. Virgil felt more comfortable talking to Emile’s back anyway. 

“And he, he hurt my mom. And me sometimes, I guess.”

Emile just nodded. 

“He— when I was turned it was cause he…” Virgil trailed off again. 

“Was he the one that turned you?”

“No. But, after I got turned, I haven’t— I haven’t seen him again.”

“And you see a parallel between yourself and Zuko, since you both have abusive fathers.”

Virgil winced slightly. “I guess.”

“Virgil, if it’s not something you want to do, you do not owe it to your father to go back to him.” Emile set a hand on Virgil’s knee. “But if he hurt you badly enough that you could be turned, I wouldn’t suggest you going back at all.”

Virgil froze, chewing on his lip. 

“Even though it’s still a spoiler, I’ll tell you. Zuko never got back the relationship he had with his dad, much less the relationship he wanted to have.”

Virgil’s face grew tight, and he blinked several times. He didn’t know why he was reacting like this. He’d barely even thought about his dad in months. 

“Can I give you a hug?” 

Virgil nodded, scrubbing at his eyes. 

It was an awkward hug, with Virgil being up on the counter, but it didn’t make the kindness shine through any less. Virgil waffled between feeling like he was about to cry, and feeling strangely numb. 

“Thanks,” he mumbled as Emile pulled away. 

“Anytime. If you want a hug, you just have to ask.” Emile gave him a bright smile, and Virgil tried to return it, but his ended out rather weak and watery. 

Emile stirred the food he was cooking so that it wouldn’t burn. “You know, Remy has a hard time with eating, but since you were turned, rather than born, I wonder if you can eat?”

The abrupt change in subject pulled Virgil out of his confused, rather yucky-feeling, spiral. 

“I-I don’t know. I haven’t really tried. I was, I lived with my sire, and she didn’t keep food in the house.”

“Well, do you want to try?”

Virgil shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind. What are you making?”

“I’ve made it up. It’s sort of Italian-y.”

Emile held out a spoonful of the sauce. “Here.”

Virgil accepted the spoon, and ate the sauce. It tasted good. Not— not like he would have guessed. It didn’t taste like food anymore. But he wouldn’t mind eating more. 

“Yeah, it’s good.”

Emile gave him a plateful, and Virgil ate it. Emile dished up the other plates, and covered them in foil for the other humans to eat as they were ready. 

Another vampire happened by, saw Virgil eating, and just clicked his tongue before turning away. That was when Virgil started to get concerned. 

It was not long at all after he’d finished eating that he stomach started to pain him. 

“Emile.” Virgil clutched at his stomach as a wave of nausea swept over him. 

“Oh, no. Come on, let’s get to the bathroom.” 

Emile helped Virgil to the bathroom. The pain and nausea increased with every minute, until Virgil was heaving every bit of the food into the toilet. 

“I’m sorry,” Emile said, rubbing Virgil’s back. “I should’ve told you what happens to Remy when he eats.”

“Not your fault,” Virgil said, letting out a groan as another wave ran over him. “I’m the one that ate it.”

“But if I’d told you you might not have eaten it.” 

Virgil shrugged, unable at that moment to speak. It was true, if he’d known that this was a possible consequence he would have just left it alone. 

There was a knock on the door. “Is everything ok in there?” Patton asked. 

“It will be in a bit. Thank you.” Emile said, rubbing at Virgil’s back again as he hunched further over the toilet. 

Virgil sat down on the bathroom floor. “Is it over?” 

“I don’t know for sure,” Emile said. “Do you think it’s all out?”

Virgil wrapped his arms around his stomach. “Dunno.”

“If you want, we can sit on the couch. I’ll get you a bucket in case, and we can watch some more Avatar.”

“Sounds better than sitting here.”

Patton was very sympathetic about the situation, and sat next to Virgil, offering almost constant hugs while they watched. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really hoping I handled Emile well in this chapter. I did my best.


	14. Chapter 14

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Fourteen**

  * •^*^••



It was almost as if the world froze when the phone rang. It was Patton’s phone. The instant it started chiming out the song Patton froze, his face paling. Logan and Roman both had horrified looks on their faces. Virgil was standing near Patton, and looked at the screen, before also going pale. 

“What is it?” Thomas asked. 

“It’s my dad,” Patton said in a hushed whisper. 

The phone continued to ring. No one moved. 

“Just let it ring, tell him later it went dead or something,” Roman suggested. 

“Patton has never failed to answer the phone for his dad in the whole time I’ve known him.” Logan countered. “It wouldn’t be believable.”

The phone was still ringing. 

Patton reached for it where it was sitting on the table. His hand was trembling. He picked it up.

“Hi, dad!” He said, but his voice was strained. 

“No, I’m doing better. Not quite. I’ve just had to spend a lot of time in bed.” There was a brief silence, and Patton’s face turned bright red. “I-I’m a friend’s house. You probably haven’t met him. No, it’s because they thought I might have gotten sick partially because of my location, like an allergy. I didn’t want to tell you, cause I was worried it would hurt your feelings.” There was another pause. “Y-yeah,” Patton squeaked. “I can. Maybe tomorrow? Ok. I love you too.”

Patton dropped the phone, burying his head in his arms and letting out a long groan. 

“His dad came to their house,” Virgil said. “He wants Patton to see him tomorrow.”

“It’s worse than that!” Patton whined into his hands. “He doesn’t believe me. I just know he doesn’t. I can’t—I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about this!”

Roman scooped Patton up in a bridal carry. “First of all, you’re going to calm down. After that we‘ll plan.”

Virgil hovered awkwardly, like he wanted to help but didn’t know how. Roman carried Patton to the living room and sat down with him on the couch, starting a movie. 

“Hey, if you need, I could be the friend,” Thomas offered to Logan. “He’s been around my house before, I’m a hunter, it would be reasonable.”

Logan nodded. “Thank you. That may be very useful.”

Logan also went into the living room, offering Patton comfort by his presence. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas was going with Patton. He was driving, and Patton was chewing his fingernails to the quick in the passenger seat. 

Patton let out a squeak as Thomas turned. “We’re close now. I haven’t been scared of my dad in years. What if I can’t do it?”

“Patton, you’ll do fine. And if not, there’s two of us, and only one of him.”

Patton shook his head, but Thomas was now pulling into the driveway. Patton squeezed his eyes shut, his whole face going tight. When the car stopped he opened his eyes, and plastered a smile over his face. 

“Ok! I’m ready!” His voice was a good imitation of happy, so good Thomas wondered how many times he’d been taken in by it himself. 

The door opened before they’d reached it, and a man came out, smiling and with his arms open wide. “Pat!”

“Hi, Dad!”

Patton was swept up in a bear hug. 

“Who’s this?” Patton’s dad asked. 

“This is Thomas, he’s my friend. He’s been letting me stay with him. Thomas, this is my dad.”

He stuck out his hand. “Liam Hart. Nice to meet you, Thomas.”

Thomas shook his hand, slightly stumbling over the ‘nice to meet you too.’ Patton’s dad looked so— normal. He was stronger than most people his age Thomas had seen, but his face was just as round as Patton’s, though without the freckles, and his smile appeared just as genuine. His hair was kept shorter than Patton’s, but it was clear that Patton got his curls from his dad. 

“Well, come inside! I’ve got coffee, and I’m sure we can work out something for lunch in a little bit.”

Soon they were sitting in a cozy living room, cups of coffee in hand, with Patton and his dad both smiling and Thomas feeling rather uncomfortable. 

“So what’s been going on?” Liam asked. “Last I knew, you were headed to the hospital, and since then I’ve heard nothing from you.”

“Yeah…” Patton gave an embarrassed smile. “I was told that it’s some kind of allergy in the area, that because I had that virus a while ago it affected me more strongly, and maybe it was brought on by the cold snap. I didn’t want you to feel bad, since you gave us the house, and it would probably be here too.”

“Well, are you ok to be here then?”

“For a little bit. I shouldn’t stay much longer than an hour. I did take the medicine though, so I should be fine for a little bit.”

Liam nodded, rubbing at his chin. “Well, I understand, but really, Pat, I’m not upset at you. You can’t control an allergy.” He chuckled. “Cats, at least, prove that one.”

Patton laughed. 

“But you could still call me to say hi. There’s no reason you couldn’t call.”

Patton nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want it to slip out on accident. I just didn’t want you to feel bad about it.” 

Liam nodded. “That’s very kind of you, Pat. But it’s also a lie.”

Patton paled. 

Thomas gripped the arm of his chair tightly, ready to jump up and grab Patton if needed. 

“And who is this?” Liam asked, gesturing towards Thomas. “I haven’t heard a word about him, and now you’re living in his house secretly? And he comes with you to talk to me? Did you get a secret boyfriend?”

Patton flushed bright red. “What? No! Dad!”

“Then who is he?”

“He’s a friend, I met him a few weeks ago.”

“You’re staying in someone’s house that you only met a few weeks ago? Pat, I can get you somewhere to stay.”

“I offered,” Thomas spoke up. 

Patton’s dad turned to him. Not angry exactly, but with a kind of intensity that was hard to argue with. “Look, Thomas, thank you for letting Patton stay with you, and for driving him here. But I would like to speak with my son now, alone.”

Thomas looked at Patton, who gave him a slight nod, though he was pale again. 

Patton’s dad stood up, and Thomas scrambled out of the chair and let himself be escorted out of the house. 

He couldn’t help but feel as if he should have stayed. 

  * •^*^••



Emile hung up the phone. “He won’t be back for a few days.”

Roman groaned. “Then what are we supposed to do about the guard? We should’ve dealt with him first.”

“For the moment, I suggest we take him lunch.”

Roman sighed. “Yeah. I just feel terrible about keeping him locked up like this.”

Emile raised an eyebrow, and Roman could see the question written all over his face. ‘And what about all the vampires you’ve kept captive or killed?’

Roman walked away, ignoring the unspoken question. He made a sandwich and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, and went downstairs. 

There was a quick shuffling as Roman opened the door, and the man tried to hide his cuffed hand behind him. 

The room they were keeping him in had no windows, and they had cuffed one of his hands to the bedpost and kept the door locked. Roman’s eyes narrowed, and he put on a stiff exterior. 

“What are you doing?”

The man glared. 

Roman glared right back. “I’ve got a dozen vampires out there. Even if you make it out of the room, you won’t get out of the house alive.”

The man paled, but his glare didn’t fade in the slightest. “You may think you’re smarter than the hunters, but you aren’t! There’s more hunters in high places than you could ever imagine! Your pitiful operation will be crushed.”

Roman rolled his eyes and set the food down within reach. “I know more about hunters than you’d guess.”

The man sneered. “Whatever you think you know, I promise it’s so much more than that.”

Roman sighed. “I’ll warn you again, you don’t want to find out what happens if you don’t stay put.”

Roman left, ignoring the thump as the bottle was thrown at the door. 

  * •^*^••



It was much later in the evening when Roman heard a cry, and then a scream. He ran back to the room the guard was in, and saw Emile, clutching his head, and a plate of spilled food on the ground. Virgil had the guard pinned to the ground, and was hissing with bared teeth. 

“Dude, I  _ just  _ warned you.” Roman said, exasperated. “Hold him, Virgil, I’ll go get new cuffs.”

“Don’t leave me with a vampire!” The man yelled, half aggressive and half terrified. 

Roman just walked out. He got some cuffs and came back. 

The man had shifted fully to scared, and was trembling under Virgil, who still hissed at any movement. Roman easily cuffed his hands together and used a second pair of cuffs to connect him to the bedpost yet again. 

“Alright, you can let him go now.” 

Virgil backed off, still glaring intensely. 

Emile walked back into the room, holding an ice pack to his head. He set a hand on Virgil, who visibly calmed. 

“I’m fine. Why don’t we go get him another plate of dinner.”

Virgil bristled, but a soft squeeze of Emile’s hand made his protests die before they were spoken. 

Roman started cleaning up the spilled plate. “You’re lucky he’s here, you know.” He scooped the majority of the food onto the plate. “But you’re really, really unlucky that you chose him to hit. Virgil might not kill you, but if Remy gets back and there’s still a mark, you’re going to wish he had.”

The man was pale and trembling. He hadn’t moved except to curl in on himself at the threat. 

Roman dumped the food and came back with a rag to wipe up the floor. “I would advise that you behave when they come back.”

The man nodded. 

Roman slumped on the couch in the living room. He didn’t like this. He wished that they were better organized. That they had a leader. He didn’t like keeping the guy captive, much less scaring the wits out of him, but if they let him go they’d be hours away from annihilation. 

  * •^*^••



It was fully dark when Patton emerged from the house. He was kind of slumped over. Thomas cranked the car and waited for him to get in. 

“Are you alright?”

Patton nodded. “I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Patton, while I do appreciate that, it’s not at all what I’m worried about right now.”

Patton’s face twitched with a hint of a smile, before going back to profound tiredness. “I will be alright. Just not right now.”

Thomas nodded, concerned, but not knowing what to do about it. He drove along in silence for a minute, and then a sign caught his eye. 

“Would ice cream make things better?”

Patton gave a huff that didn’t really resemble a laugh, but he had a tiny crooked smile. “Ice cream always makes things better.”

  * •^*^••



Roman had looked depressed ever since they’d given the guard dinner. Virgil was sitting on the couch, sandwiched between him and Emile, and they were watching cartoons again. 

The door opened. “Hi,” Thomas said tiredly. 

Dee appeared suddenly to stand next to Thomas, and lead him away. 

“I need a hug,” Patton said, and Roman was happy to oblige, scooping him up and carrying him to the couch. 

Virgil moved closer to Emile to make room, and Emile tucked him under his arm. 

Virgil didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he was woken by Emile trying to get up. 

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Come on, Virge, Patton’s going to bed now too.” Roman was successfully standing with a sleeping Patton in his arms. 

Virgil blearily followed, laying down on the far end of the bed from where Roman had put Patton. 

By the time he woke the next morning, Patton was using him as a teddy bear again, and Virgil found that he didn’t mind at all. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it was a bit more angsty than the last one, but things are mostly chill, and I’m working on character development. And, of course, fulfilling all those promises I made of hugs for Virgil. It won’t stay this calm forever, so enjoy the break while it lasts!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s short, but it’s going to change some things.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Fifteen**

  * •^*^••



  
  


He wasn’t getting out of here alive. He’d seen faces, and heard names. He’d made at least one vampire extremely angry, and another would be angry when he returned. He hadn’t actually been hurt yet, but it was only a matter of time. They didn’t want anything from him. He had nothing to give, apparently not even information. Except blood. 

They were going to drain him. Even just considering the thought made his hands tremble. But what else could they do? Why else would they be keeping him alive? It would make sense, with so many vampires to feed, that they would want to keep a human around in case of emergencies. 

There was only one that might help him. And he’d hit him over the head. He was completely, utterly screwed. 

The door opened. Patton walked in, carrying food. Virgil followed him, baring his teeth and letting out a quiet hiss. 

“I brought you some food.”

He just nodded silently, avoiding meeting Virgil’s eyes. 

Patton set it down where he could reach it. “I’ll come back in a while to get the dishes.”

As soon as the door closed he let out a long breath. He really wasn’t ever getting out of here. 

  * •^*^••



“It’s been a few days, we should try again,” Dee said. 

Virgil instantly knew what he was talking about. He ducked his head slightly. 

“With th— oh! Oh, yeah. We could do it now.” Patton said, far too cheerily. 

Virgil ducked his head down further. 

Patton put his hands on Virgil’s shoulders. “It’ll be alright, Virgil. I trust you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Virgil muttered. 

Patton pulled him into a full hug. “But I do.”

Dee set a hand on the back of his shoulder. “I’ll be here in case something goes wrong. You don’t have to worry.”

Virgil finally lifted his head, looking up at Patton. Patton gave him a soft, reassuring smile. 

Virgil pushed Patton’s collar to the side and bit down. Patton flinched, but didn’t move away. Virgil pushed every good feeling, that he was definitely not feeling, into Patton. He didn’t know how he did it, or if it was doing anything, but he did it. Patton’s hug around him became softer, and he swayed a bit. Virgil looked up in alarm. Dee moved behind Patton to steady him, and gave Virgil a proud, reassuring smile. 

Virgil finally let himself take several swallows. Patton’s blood was not the best tasting he’d had. Not by a long shot. He wondered if it had something to do with the smell all hunters had. Still, it wasn’t bad, and it filled his stomach, spreading warmth throughout his body. Virgil pulled away before he was full. He didn’t know when things might change. He couldn’t get used to being full. 

He shifted his focus from the warm soft feelings to healing, and then pulled away. To his surprise, he could see as the punctures started to close. 

He looked up at Patton, who was now being supported between him and Dee. Patton’s face was flushed, and he looked like he was about to fall asleep. 

“That was a good one,” Dee said. “Once or twice more and you’ll be fine on your own. Sometimes it just takes practice.”

“I-I did practice!” Virgil insisted. “I tried so many times.”

“Not like this,” Dee said. 

Virgil shook his head. 

“It takes some calm and focus to get anything out of practicing.”

Virgil didn’t say anything, but the thought rang through his head.  _ Then why didn’t my Sire help me do it right? _

  * •^*^••



Thomas had realized that he needed several things from his house, especially if he was going to be staying in the farmhouse. Dee was very happy to go with him and help pack things up. 

The problem started when they saw an unfamiliar car pulling away from the driveway just before they got there. Just in case, Thomas drove past, going several blocks down before turning back. 

They went inside, and while it wasn’t ransacked, things were definitely out of place. 

“It stinks like hunters,” Dee said, grimacing. 

Thomas gathered what he needed quickly, and they drove back to the farmhouse the long way, where hopefully they lost anyone tailing them. 

  * •^*^••



Liam hung up the phone, a frown set deeply on his face. 

“Why’d you lie to me, Pat?” He said to the empty air. “I just don’t understand it.”

He made several calls to Patton’s friends, and finally called Patton himself. Every one of them went to voicemail. 

Liam paced back and forth anxiously. He hadn’t had to do this in years. He’d forgotten that he still had this as an option until he needed it. He didn’t want to do it. It felt like betraying Patton’s trust. Except, Patton didn’t trust him. Not now. And for the life of him Liam couldn’t figure out why. 

What could Patton possibly be doing that he would be scared if Liam found out? Where could he be? He wasn’t at his house, and he wasn’t at this supposed new friend’s house. Neither house had any clues as to where he might have gone. Even the vampire had been taken away. 

Liam went and pulled up the app. It hadn’t been turned on in so long. It was possible that Patton didn’t have it anymore. But it was his last lead. 

He turned it on. There it was. Patton’s, or at least his phone’s, exact location. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fluffy interlude is officially over. Let the angst resume.


	16. Chapter 16

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Sixteen**

  * •^*^••



There was a banging knock on the front door. 

Virgil snapped awake, suddenly painfully aware of a strong stink. 

“Patton?!” It was Patton’s dad. 

Patton woke up, blinking and breathing hard. “Dad? What- how?” He shoved his glasses on. 

Virgil turned the light on. Patton was startlingly pale, and all his freckles stood out. His eyes were wide and scared. But he shuffled toward the door. Virgil followed him as he went to the front door. There were a multitude of other faces peeking out from the other bedrooms, but only two tried to follow Patton. 

“No, stay here. It’s my dad, I’ll deal with him.” Patton turned away. “But get ready in case we have to fight.”

Virgil followed him the last few steps. 

“Go away, Virge, I’ll deal with it.”

Virgil bit his lip hard, but shook his head. 

The door shook as the pounding resumed. “Open this door! I want to see Patton!”

Patton opened the door. “Hi, dad.”

His father looked furious. “What is going on here?! Where is this? What are you doing?! How is no one else in this massive house awake? Is it drugs? Patton, tell me you haven’t gotten into drugs.”

“No, it’s not drugs.” 

“Then what?! What could you possibly be doing that you’d run away secretly for and take the vampire with you?” He gestured at Virgil. 

“Let’s talk outside,” Patton said, his voice a good imitation of calm. “We don’t want to wake everyone up.”

“Patton, I don’t understand this!” His dad said, backing up a few steps. 

Patton went outside, and tried to shut Virgil in, but Virgil followed him out anyway. 

“Explain this to me, Pat.” Liam said, his voice dropping down to a normal volume, and a pleading note coming into it. 

“No. This time I want you to let me do what I want without knowing about it or joining in. I’ve grown up, Dad, and I want to do this on my own.”

Liam blinked several times, a frown forming and then deepening. Then suddenly his eyes widened. “It’s that vampire, isn’t it? It’s not tame, it has you thralled.”

“What? No, Dad, that’s not even—“

“It’s ok, I’ll help you. Come on, Pat.”

“Dad, no!”

Virgil took a step back, but Liam pulled a gun out and pointed it at him. “Don’t move, vampire. Come on, both of you. We’re going home.”

“Dad, stop this!” Patton said, pulling on his arm. 

“Patton, stop or I’ll shoot him.” His voice was deadly calm and commanding. “Get in the car. You’ll be driving.”

Patton slowly moved towards the car, not letting his eyes off of his dad. 

Liam advanced towards Virgil, who didn’t dare move. A large part of him was absolutely terrified. But a smaller part was incredibly relieved. If Liam thought that it was just him and Patton, the others would be safe. And he shouldn’t have any reason to hurt Patton, if he thought he was thralled. 

If Virgil cooperating would save the others he would do it. 

So Virgil didn’t protest or try to get away as he was cuffed and muzzled. He was shoved into the backseat of the car, and Liam sat next to him, never moving the gun away from him. 

“Patton, drive us home. I’ll be able to help you there.”

“I’m not thralled, Dad.”

“It’s alright, I’ll deal with this as soon as I can.”

  
  


  * •^*^••



Remy’s eyebrow raised. “Need something?”

The hunter glared and cocked his gun. Remy heard several more clicks as more guns were cocked, some he could see, and some he couldn’t. 

He took a long sip of his drink, taking his glasses off and tucking them in his shirt before running a hand through his hair. “Look, Gurl, I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what you want.”

“Come quietly, vampire,” the hunter commanded. 

“Not a vampire.”

The hunter frowned, “What?”

“Gurl, are you deaf? I said I’m not a vampire.” Remy put a hand on his hip and took another sip of his drink. 

The hunter faltered, his gun dropping several inches. 

“Are you all cops?” Remy asked. 

“I am!” A voice from a hunter he couldn’t see said. 

“Thank you,” Remy said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “I’m assuming you have a warrant for my arrest then?”

“Oh… uh, no.”

“Then please put the guns down. What kind of example are you to all the good citizens? Pointing guns without a warrant, honestly.”

The hunters he could see all started lowering their guns, shame coating their faces. 

“Now, I’m a very kind person, so I won’t put you all in citizens’ arrest, but you gotta give me your guns and badges. Come on. I’ll be speaking personally with your bosses, and you don’t wanna know what I’ll say if you don’t behave.”

Slowly, a full dozen hunters came to drop badges and guns at his feet. 

“Now go home.”

Remy gathered the guns and badges, and then his stomach lurched. 

“The price I pay for coffee,” he grumbled, packing up the weapons and making his way to a public bathroom. 

  * •^*^••



“Sir! I think it’s working!”

“Well, of course it’s working. Now we just have to wait for it to go back to its nest.”

  * •^*^••



Patton and Virgil had been gone for all of two minutes before the house was in an uproar. 

“We should have gone with them!” Roman insisted. 

“This is Patton’s father, and he said he would handle it. I trust him.” Logan said, more calmly. 

“This isn’t about trust! It’s about danger! His dad knows now!”

“I don’t think he does.” Dee interjected. “He said that he thought Virgil had thralled Patton.”

Roman’s face paled. “Don’t say that… y-you don’t know what he—“ 

“If he thinks that Patton is thralled, he wouldn’t do anything to Patton, and he can’t kill Virgil.” Thomas said. 

“He’ll do everything but,” Roman said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “And if Virgil can’t actually release the thralldom…” 

Logan seemed to understand. “We have to get them back. Now.”

“But we can’t let him find out what we’re doing!” Thomas protested. “We’d all be dead if that happened.”

“Then make it a secret rescue,” Emile suggested. 

“No, no this is Liam Hart,” Roman said. “There’s no way.”

“I’m sure that there  _ is  _ a way, just not one we can see at the moment,” Logan said. “After all, there was a time we believed many things were impossible, which we have proven wrong in the past week.”

“We should get Remus in on this,” Dee said. 

Several incredulous eyes were turned on him. 

“He’s a born vampire! One of only two we have, and the other is off gallivanting.”

Emile’s face tightened in offense, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Why don’t we just take out his whole place like we did the warehouse?” Thomas asked. 

“He’s got way more security, probably trained vampires to fight for him, and if he goes missing we’ll have hundreds of hunters down our throats,” Roman said. 

“There is also a high possibility that he has a way of quickly raising an alarm,” Logan added. “Whatever we do, it must be without his knowledge.”

  * •^*^••



Liam Hart was practically seething. But he kept it all under wraps. His son, his sweet boy, was under thrall. And probably had been for a while. How could he have been so blind? 

But he had the cause of the problem, and he knew what to do about it. 

Patton parked in the driveway, trying yet again to convince him that he wasn’t thralled. “Dad, really, I’m not. I’m perfectly fine right now.”

“It’s ok, Pat. Don’t worry. We just have to keep you two separated for a bit.”

“Dad, I don’t want to. I don’t know what’s going through your mind but I don’t like it!”

“It’s alright, honey, we’ll get this dealt with. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt the vampire. We’ll just keep you separate until the thralldom dissolves.”

The relief stood out plainly on Patton’s face. Proving that he really was thralled. Patton wouldn’t care this much for a vampire otherwise. He’d always been soft, but this was more than that. 

Liam climbed out of the car with the vampire, careful to keep his movements gentle for the moment. One of his men walked up immediately. 

“I’m glad to see you found your son, sir.”

“Take the vampire, I’ll be back shortly.”

Liam grabbed Patton’s arm, and pulled him towards the house. “Dad? Dad, what are you doing?”

Liam braced for his son to fight against him, a thing that should never be, because of that— that vampire. He  _ would _ hold his anger for now. It could have its release later. 

Liam pulled Patton into the house, and struggled with him to get him into his old room. Liam locked the door. 

Patton pounded on the door. “Dad! Dad, stop! You can’t do this!”

“I’m sorry, Pat. I am. It’ll all be ok in a few days. I promise.”

“Let me out! Dad!”

Liam went back outside, taking the vampire back. He controlled himself until he was inside the barn, out of sight from Patton’s window. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um... warning for the next chapter. It won’t be pretty. My brain decided that if it was going to angst again, it was going to angst hard.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Liam literally tortures Virgil in this chapter. Only a small portion is ‘on screen’, but I think it still deserves a warning.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Seventeen**

  * •^*^••



Virgil had felt the anger practically rolling off the man since before they’d gotten in the car. The death grip on his arm did nothing but confirm the fact. 

Virgil was absolutely terrified. 

He was walked to a large barn, and thrown to the ground inside. Liam crouched near him. Virgil didn’t dare move. The threat and menace was already terrifying enough, he didn’t want to do a single thing to anger him more. 

“I don’t know what you were thinking, picking my son to go after, but I swear I will make you regret it.”

He grabbed at Virgil’s hair and pulled his head up, trading the muzzle for one that allowed Virgil to talk. 

“This is your only chance at mercy, not that you deserve it. Let go of my son. Now.”

There wasn’t a thrall to let go of. But Virgil couldn’t let him know that. If he knew there wasn’t a thrall, he’d start asking what there was. He’d learn what they’d all been doing. And Virgil couldn’t have the blood of them all on his hands. He couldn’t. Not after they’d been so kind to him. He couldn’t. 

“...no…”

Almost immediately a heavy boot was rammed into his stomach. Virgil doubled over, coughing. Pain flared, and he couldn’t breathe. Another kick had him curled in on himself on the floor. 

But then, Virgil realized that he didn’t have to just take it. Especially if he was supposed to have thralled Patton, surely it would be reasonable for him to fight back. To try and get Patton and leave. 

Virgil pulled hard at his hands until the flimsy handcuff chain broke. Liam kicked him in the ribs, but this time Virgil was able to grab his foot and pull. 

Liam yelled something wordless and angry, tipping over. 

Several pairs of hands grabbed Virgil before he could do anything else, pressing silver against his skin and holding tight despite his desperate thrashing. He let out a harsh scream, which was cut off when something heavy hit his head. 

  * •^*^••



Patton pounded on the door even after his dad left, ramming into it to try to knock it down. But it was a pretty sturdy door. Without the key he wasn’t going to get out that way. Next he turned to the windows, but his dad had long ago fixed metal bars over them. 

Patton slumped to the ground. He didn’t want to believe that his dad would hurt Virgil. But he knew better now. 

A ragged sob tore out from his chest when he heard the scream. But there was nothing he knew to do. Nothing he could do. 

  * •^*^••



“I have a plan.” Logan announced. “It’s not ideal, but it will work for the moment.”

“That’s better than anything we have,” Roman said. “What is it?”

Logan explained his plan, which, in his opinion, was trading their future for the present, but he had no other way of saving the present. Not without abandoning Virgil and Patton. 

“I’ll do it.” Thomas said. 

Roman nodded seriously. 

“I’ll talk with Remus,” Dee offered. 

“And I’ll call Remy,” Emile said. 

“Thank you. Let’s get started, we don’t want to leave them with Liam any longer than we have to,” Logan said. 

  * •^*^••



The instant Virgil woke up he wished he hadn’t. His wrists and ankles burned, clamped to the wall with silver cuffs. His shirt and hoodie were gone. He cracked his eyes open, just in time to see Liam standing up from a chair nearby. Virgil ducked his gaze away. 

Liam grabbed his hair to force his head up. “Release my son.”

Virgil couldn’t answer. There was no way to answer yes, but he didn’t dare answer with a no. 

A silver bar was pressed against his collarbone, and he screamed, trying to arch away from the burning pain. But all that did was pull on his wrists and ankles, doubling their pain. 

“I said release him.”

The silver was pulled away for a few seconds, but when Virgil didn’t answer it was pressed into his arm. 

Virgil screamed. It was all he could do. 

The bar was pulled away for longer this time, enough for Virgil to get some breath back. 

Liam hovered the bar above Virgil’s face. “Let him go.”

“Please, please don’t. Please!” 

The burning metal pressed into his cheek where the muzzle didn’t cover. Virgil tried to pull his head away, but the grip on his hair was strong enough to hold him in place. He screamed. 

Finally it left. His face was wet with tears, and he was panting and trembling as if he’d run a marathon. 

“Let my son go,” Liam said, holding the silver bar threateningly. 

“I can’t! I can’t! Please! Please, I can’t!” The words spilled out of Virgil’s mouth between sobs. “Please don’t! I-I didn’t!”

The rod was pressed flush with his side. 

  * •^*^••



Patton was sobbing on the floor, practically ripping his hair out. He could hear the screams, and he just knew it was Virgil. Why had he ever let him out of the door?! He should have made him stay! He should’ve— there were a million things he could have done! But he hadn’t done any of them. And now Virgil was paying the price. 

Patton let out a scream of frustration as he heard another scream of pain from Virgil. 

He didn’t care if he never saw his dad ever again. If he got out he was taking Virgil and leaving for good. 

  * •^*^••



The damn thing passed out again. Liam threw the rod to the ground, growling in anger. For all it’s begging and blubbering it hadn’t released his son yet. Unless it had. 

Liam stalked toward the house, trying to calm his burning anger to a more manageable smolder. Patton hadn’t done anything wrong, and he didn’t want to go in angry and make him think he had. 

But before he made it to the house, a car pulled up. A car he didn’t recognize. Far too many people started piling out of it, and they were carrying weapons. 

“Hey! Who are you and what do you think you’re doing?” Liam yelled. 

Several guns swung to point in his direction. 

  * •^*^••



Everything was chaos. The last of the hunters were holed up in the barn, which Remus was trying to simultaneously pull down and set on fire, aided by his group of vengeful, blood-thirsty vampires. 

Not to say that Dee wasn’t vengeful, but he wasn’t blood-thirsty, and despite his support of setting the barn on fire, he wouldn’t count himself as one of Remus’s group. He went inside the house, banging open doors and checking to be sure no hunters were left inside. One door was locked, and took a much harder kick to open, but open it did, revealing a very distraught Patton. 

“Dee!”

“Patton! What happened to you? Are you alright?”

His face was red and puffy, and there was streaked blood on his fingers and through his hair. 

Patton nodded. “We have to get Virgil. Right now. We can’t—“ his whole body shook with the force of the sudden sob. “We can’t leave him there any longer.”

As worried as he was about Virgil, Dee hadn’t expected Patton to be anything other than trapped, and he was getting more worried for him by the second. In his moment of hesitation, Patton was already pushing past him, running outside. 

Dee checked the rest of the rooms, finally satisfied that no one else was in the house. Then he followed Patton outside. 

Remus was crowing his approval of whatever Patton was telling him, and soon a group of vampires was pulling the boards right off the barn wall, creating a hole large enough to get inside. 

Gunshots rang out, and then a wave of vampires piled inside the building. Dee looked around. They’d lost seven in all. But the barn was the last place the humans were hiding. They’d won the battle. Now if only they could manage to avoid being torn apart once the war came. 

He followed them into the barn. Virgil was one of the first things he saw, with Patton trying to get him down. 

Virgil was cuffed to the wall with almost as many cuffs as Remus had been. His skin had many welts, raised and bubbled up painfully, and that was besides the cuffs. At least he was unconscious, separated from the pain at least by that. 

Dee’s hand went unconsciously to his face, and his knees slowly gave out, dropping him to the ground. His vision blurred and narrowed, until all he could see were the marks of torture on Virgil’s body. He felt distantly that tears were streaming down his face, but he was frozen, caught in the worst kind of trance. Memories flicked over his skin, burning into his conscious mind. 

  * •^*^••



It was almost over, but Thomas’s mind was still spinning wildly. Death and violence had swirled around him for the last hour, and he’d been a part of it. He should be used to this by now, since he was a hunter, but he wasn’t. 

He was one of the last to enter the barn. Patton was carrying Virgil out as he went in, and Thomas could barely look at him, memories of when he’d found Dee springing up to torture his mind. 

Wait. 

Dee went inside. 

Thomas rushed in to see Dee on his knees clutching at his face, a haunted look in his eyes and tears streaming down his cheeks. Thomas knelt in front of him. 

The worst part was knowing he couldn’t touch him. Not yet anyway. 

“Dee? Can you hear me?”

He stared past Thomas’s head, toward the wall where many cuffs were dangling. Thomas suppressed a shudder. 

“Dee, listen to me. You’re safe. I’m here now. No one’s going to hurt you.” 

Dee finally looked at his face, but his eyes were distant and unfocused. Thomas gave his best imitation of a soft smile. 

“It’s alright now. You’re safe. And so is Virgil. They’re helping him right now. I’m here, you’re safe.” Thomas slowly held up his hands, to show that they were empty. 

Dee’s eyes slowly focused. “Th—“

“Yes, it’s me. I’m Thomas.” Thomas very slowly reached his hand towards Dee’s unhurt side. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Dee didn’t move. Thomas’s hand finally rested against his cheek, cupping his chin gently. 

“I’ve got you now. No one can hurt you.”

“Thomas?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Thomas fought with the tears threatening to spill from his own eyes. “I’m here.”

Dee leaned into Thomas’s hand, closing his eyes. His death grip on his face lessened slightly, but didn’t leave. Thomas moved forward, wrapping Dee in a soft hug. 

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you now. You’re safe.” 

Carefully, Thomas shifted his position so he could lift Dee. He carried him outside, where they were some of the last to leave. Emile and Remy were waiting with the last car. 

Thomas got into the backseat, not bothering with seatbelts, and holding Dee. 

“Patton and Roman are doing the best they can for Virgil,” Emile said. “Logan went with Remus to handle the dispersion.”

Thomas nodded. He was glad that the plan was working, but he almost didn’t care. 

He stroked back hair from Dee’s forehead. “Are you with me, Dee?”

Dee nodded slightly. 

Thomas held him closer. “It’ll be ok. You can sleep. We have a long car ride ahead of us.”

Dee gave another slight nod, wrapping one of his arms around Thomas. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have loads and loads of Virgil comfort.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not quite as soft as I’d hoped, but it will come. The boys are all safe, for the moment.
> 
> It’s quicker though! This chapter was easier and faster to write by far than the last one was.

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Eighteen**

  * •^*^••



  
  


“Sir, Liam Hart’s house has been attacked by vampires.”

“I assume he has it handled?”

“No, sir. We have some video, but as far as I know everyone that was living there is dead.”

“Oh? I’m surprised. Do we know where the vampires went?”

“No, sir. But I do have the video. We are working on identifying them.”

“Well done. Once you’re done send out an alert. I want them shot on sight.”

“Yes, sir.”

  * •^*^••



Roman turned his head for a second when he heard the whimper. 

“Please… Please no! I-I didn’t…” came Virgil’s weak voice. 

Roman had to watch the road. He wished now he wasn’t the one driving. “Is he ok, Pat?”

“No.” Patton said bitterly. Then his voice came again, a bit more normal. “He’s having nightmares. But if we wake him up he’ll be hurting even worse.”

Patton was in the backseat, cradling Virgil’s head and shoulders so that he could lay down. Roman could barely look at Virgil. He had no idea how Patton was managing it. 

A stream of broken pleas fell from Virgil’s lips, interspersed with sounds so pitiful they pierced Roman’s heart. 

“Shh, Virgil, I’ve got you now. It’ll be ok,” Patton soothed. 

Roman spared another glance backward. Patton was running his fingers through Virgil’s hair, and his face was wet and shiny from tears. 

Roman leaned a bit heavier on the gas pedal, wanting to get to their destination as quickly as possible, though he knew that even with speeding it would be several hours. 

It was maybe an hour later that Roman heard a sharp gasp, and rapid breathing, that quickly became hyperventilating. 

“Virgil, it’s ok, I’m here. I’ve got you now. No one is going to hurt you anymore.” 

The breathing slowed down gradually, becoming ragged in the way breathing does when someone’s trying not to cry. 

“Oh, Virgil, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry!” Patton started crying. 

And then they were both crying. Virgil’s crying was interspersed with gasps and pained noises, and Patton’s with teary reassurances. 

Roman didn’t know what to do. He pulled out his phone and called Logan. 

“Roman? I’m sure you know I’m very busy right now.”

“I know, I know. But Virgil’s awake.”

The sigh of relief was plain through the phone. 

“He’s in a lot of pain and I don’t know what to do.”

“Ok. Try feeding him. Vampires heal quickly just after they’ve eaten.”

“Ok.”

There was some muffled talking that Roman couldn’t make out. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call again as soon as I can.”

Logan hung up. 

“Patton, Logan said to feed him. It’ll help him heal.”

“O-ok,” Patton said shakily. “Ow! No, no, Virgil, it’s ok, I’m fine. I’m sorry. It’s ok. Please, just get better.”

Roman again cursed that he was the driver. He knew it was better for Patton to be back there than for him, but he still wanted to be there!

It was a good two hours later that he pulled over, needing gas and to use the bathroom. 

  * •^*^••



Patton also would’ve liked to go inside, but he was  _ not  _ going to leave Virgil alone, and by the time Roman got back Virgil had drifted into a kind of semi-sleep. Patton just could not justify waking him up. 

His wrist ached a bit, and it was still bleeding a little. For some reason it wasn’t healing up very quickly this time. Patton wouldn’t have minded except that seeing the blood was turning his stomach. 

He ran his hand gently through Virgil’s hair, trying to give what little comfort he could. 

Roman cranked the car. “You doing ok?”

Patton nodded. “Yeah. It’s, uh, it’s been a long day. A really, really long day.”

“How—“ Roman started driving. “How soon did it, start?”

Patton swallowed heavily. “Pretty soon.” He looked out the car window at the setting sun. It had been late last night, or maybe early in the morning, when his dad had started banging on their door. His day had felt stretched into a week, and he couldn’t bear to imagine what it had been like for Virgil. 

“Oh,” Roman said, the same heaviness sitting in Patton’s stomach apparent in his voice. 

Patton nodded, and tears started slipping down his face again. Surely he’d run out soon. There was no way he could cry this much. And it didn’t do any good! He could cry all he wanted but it wouldn’t help Virgil! 

But that thought just made the tears come faster. 

  * •^*^••



“There’s the last of them,” Logan said. “Unless you want me to drop you off somewhere.”

“Nah,” Remus said, leaned back crookedly over the seat, completely unbuckled. “I think I’ll go with Dee Dee and Thomas.”

Logan nodded. “That would make sense, if it’s really what you want to do.”

“Eh.”

It didn’t take them long to meet up with the other car, though Remus was almost disturbingly quiet during the ride. 

Thomas traded with Logan, and Dee went with him and Remus. Logan got into the backseat of the car Emile was driving, and Remy was in the passenger seat. 

“We’ll contact you in a week,” Logan said, and was met with a firm nod from Thomas. 

Logan still didn’t like this plan. While it might keep them safe, it also weakened them in case of attack, and there was nothing they could do in terms of helping any other vampires. But it did keep them safe, probably. So it was their best bet. At least until someone came up with anything better. 

  * •^*^••



There was almost certainly an ambush both at their house and at the farmhouse. There was no way to return to get anything. 

Thomas just drove. He didn’t know where they’d be staying that night, aside from the car, but he couldn’t chance being anywhere near Liam’s house. Probably not even in the same state. Hopefully crossing state lines would be enough. Hopefully. But it might well not be. 

As it turned out, Remus wasn’t the absolute worst person to have in the backseat. He kept talking almost constantly, usually about things that Thomas  _ hoped  _ didn’t relate to vampires. Dee scoffed and rolled his eyes at every other sentence, but Thomas caught a hint of an amused smile more than once. 

  * •^*^••



It hurt. 

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. 

It  _ hurt _ . 

Everything hurt. 

Virgil was constantly holding back whimpers and other sounds. He didn’t want them to know. They could see him, but silver never looked as bad as it felt. 

Even after he’d eaten, and could just barely distinguish the itch of healing within the sea of pain, it still hurt. 

His one anchor was Patton’s hand carding softly through his hair. The only thing on his whole body that didn’t hurt. 

And then the car stopped again. Virgil was hazily slipping in and out of a semi-sleep. He didn’t catch the words Patton and Roman were saying, until they tried to lift him. 

Virgil let out a pained yell. His arm flailed, reaching for Patton. 

“Shh, shh, it’s ok, Virgil. We need you to be quiet, ok?”

“Can’t,” Virgil choked out. 

“Ok, ok. Um.”

“Here, let me, Pat. You get the other end.”

“No! Please.” Virgil started crying and pleading with them to not pick him up. It  _ hurt.  _ It hurt so bad!

“I’m sorry, Virgil, I’m so sorry,” Roman said, and then put a hand over his mouth. “Now, Pat.” 

They lifted, and Virgil screamed against Roman’s hand. 

They carried him inside somewhere, and laid him on a bed. 

“There, it’s done. I’m sorry, Virgil. I am. I’m truly sorry.” Roman left a thousand apologies before the exhaustion took over the pain, and Virgil slipped again. 

  * •^*^••



They were in a tourist town. 

“Why would you pick this place?” Logan asked, when he realized that Remy was turning in to a driveway. 

“Because everyone’s a stranger here babe,” Remy said quickly. “Now I’ll hop out and work my magic, you two don’t watch.” 

He took off his sunglasses and slipped them on Emile, and then got out of the car. Emile immediately turned up the music. 

It was a while before Remy came back out, and was followed by a small family with heaps of bags, who piled into their car and drove away. 

“What is it that you tell them?” Logan asked. 

Remy flashed a smile, “They've won a cruise! I am here to personally give them the address and they have to leave right away for a ninety day cruise in the Bahamas!”

“Isn’t that… needlessly cruel?” Logan asked. “They have to drive a long way for nothing, and then they’re left with no house, and less money.”

“Who said it’s nothing?” Remy said with a wink, taking his sunglasses back. 

“He really does own a cruise ship somewhere,” Emile explained. “It’s not the Bahamas, but it’s pretty nice. The ship is called Remy too.”

“Have you been on it?” Logan asked. 

Emile nodded. “It was a long time ago, but yeah. That’s where I met him. I actually bought my ticket, though.”

Logan nodded slowly, though, to be honest, this just raised more questions. 

  * •^*^••



“Well, I guess it’s better than nothing,” Thomas said. 

“Are you kidding? It’s perfect!” Remus was out of the car and running around like a hyperactive child. 

“I don’t know what you see in it,” Dee muttered, putting the seats all the way back. 

Thomas just sighed. Sleeping in his car at a state rest stop wasn’t his idea of comfortable, but it was empty, and thus probably safe. And he still had Dee. And Remus, but Remus was more a wild card than a comfort. 

There were bathrooms, and a vending machine for ‘breakfast’ in the morning. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. 

  * •^*^••



Patton didn’t sleep. He almost didn’t dare touch Virgil, for fear of hurting him. He sat on the edge of the bed, gently running his fingers through Virgil’s hair, and keeping a damp washcloth for his forehead. The poor boy was hot with fever, which Patton had hoped vampires couldn’t get, but apparently they could. 

“Well, silver is poison to them,” Roman had murmured. “It burns, but too much will kill them. I just hope we got him in time.”

Patton couldn’t think about what if they were too late. They had him now. Surely that was enough. They were doing everything they could. Surely. Surely he’d get better. 

  
  



	19. Chapter 19

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Nineteen**

  * •^*^••



Virgil slowly drifted awake. He felt sore, and his mind was fuzzy. He was starving. But that didn’t make sense. He’d eaten recently—- though he couldn’t remember when. 

He tried to sit up, and his body exploded with pain. The cry left his mouth before he even knew it was there. His breathing sped up as he tried to remain frozen in place, terrified of awakening the pain any further. 

“Shh, Shh, Virgil, I’m here,” said a soft voice, and his hair was stroked back from his forehead. 

Virgil choked back a whimper and leaned his head towards the hand. He slowly opened his eyes. 

Patton was sitting above him, looking nearly as terrible as Virgil felt. His eyes were bloodshot, with bags forming beneath them, he was paler than normal, making his freckles stand out, and he had dried blood on his face and in his hair. But he was still smiling softly down at Virgil. 

“There you go, just lay still, ok? You’ll get better, I promise. Do you need anything?” 

Virgil wasn’t sure he dared move enough to speak, but eventually he did. “ ‘m hungry.”

A fire lit up over his cheek, just from that small movement. 

“It’s ok, Virgil, you can eat as much as you want,” Patton said, baring his wrist. 

And then Virgil remembered. He’d eaten from Patton last, more than once in the last few days. Patton was already pale, there was no way Virgil could take more. 

Patton held his wrist just above Virgil’s mouth. 

“No,” Virgil said weakly. 

“It’s ok,” Patton said gently, running his hand through Virgil’s hair again. “It’ll help you get better.”

“Roman,” Virgil said, trying to move his mouth as little as possible. 

“Roman?” Patton looked surprised, and hurt. Virgil hated that. He hated that he’d put that look there on Patton’s face. But he’d hate even more if he hurt Patton by taking too much from him. 

“Roman.”

“Ok. Ok, Virgil, I’ll get him. Will that help you feel better?”

Virgil gave the tiniest nod. 

Patton left, and Virgil mourned the loss of the hand in his hair. Without that to balance it, the pain seemed so much worse. 

Then the door opened, and Roman knelt beside his bed. “Hey, Virgil, you called?” His voice was carefully quiet, which Virgil very much appreciated. 

Virgil gave a tiny nod. 

“And Patton said you’re hungry?”

Virgil gave another slight nod. 

Roman held his wrist against Virgil’s mouth, and Virgil bit down, trying his best to be careful. He had fuzzy memories of hurting Patton, and he didn’t want that to happen again. 

Warmth flowed down his throat and filled his stomach. Virgil tensed, knowing that healing the burns would hurt. But why?! It was  _ healing!  _ Why did it have to hurt? 

“Shh, just relax, Stormcloud,” Roman said. His voice was deep and resonant, and very convincing. And then he stroked his hand through Virgil’s hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. 

Virgil melted against the bed, riding through the waves of heat and pain, anchored by the soft touch and quiet murmurs. 

He didn’t expect, not with how much blood was being used to heal him, that he would feel properly full, but he did, and he released Roman’s wrist, pleased to see the punctures healing over as Roman pulled away. 

“Thank you,” Virgil said. His voice was hoarse and croaky, but he could use it now without pain. 

“Anytime, Virgil.” Roman smiled at him, his energy tempered by a softness Virgil had never expected to be directed at him. 

“Patton stayed here all night, didn’t he?” 

Roman nodded, with an affirmative hum. 

“He-he can’t do that. He has to sleep too. He had blood on him, Roman! What happened to—“ Virgil was cut off with a finger to his lips. 

“Shhh, it’s alright. I told him to take a shower and then go to bed. He’ll be fine. He was worried about you, and a bit self-destructive.”

Virgil shook his head as much as he dared. “He can’t, I’m not—“

“Don’t you dare say you aren’t worth it.” Roman said firmly. “I know you enough to know what was going through your head. You did this for us. There’s no way in hell we aren’t going to repay that!” 

Virgil broke eye contact with Roman, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m just a vampire…”

“Are you kidding?!” Roman shifted position to come back into Virgil’s field of vision. “You’re most of the reason I learned not to look down on vampires like that, and you’re telling me that  _ you  _ look down on vampires?!”

Virgil turned his head away. “Vampires may be people, but we still all have to steal life away from others. We still hurt people, whether on accident or not. I’ve been around vampires my whole life, Roman. They aren’t good.”

“You can’t say that. Would you tell Dee that? Or Remy?”

“They know it already.”

“No— Virgil, where is all of this coming from? I thought you were just as much for freeing the vampires as we all were!”

Virgil turned back to face Roman. “Of course I am! No one should ever have to go through that!”

“Then what is all of this?”

“I’ve just, I was practically dead once anyway, and since then I’ve— I-I’ve hurt so many people, Roman. If it had to be you or me—“

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Roman was looking downright angry, and Virgil shrunk back against the bed. “Listen, we’ve both done stupid things. We’ve both hurt people. I’m a vampire hunter, I’ve killed. That’s more than you can say.”

“I—“ 

Distracted by talking, Virgil had forgotten about not moving, and tried to sit up. His whole body stiffened and he clamped his eyes and mouth shut as pain raced across his skin. His breathing quickened and small sounds, that seemed way more embarrassing with Roman in the room, slipped out between his gritted teeth. 

“Hey, hey, loosen up a bit,” Roman said, his voice back to calm and soothing. “If you stiffen up it’ll hurt worse.” 

He ran his hand through Virgil’s hair again. “I’m sorry. I made you upset. We can bench that topic until you’re better and Patton can get in on the conversation.” 

Virgil gave a slight nod without opening his eyes, still trying to ride out the pain. Roman started humming softly in time with his hand in Virgil’s hair, which helped considerably. 

As the pain faded, it was replaced with exhaustion. Virgil slowly slipped away to the soft sound of Roman’s humming. 

  * •^*^••



“You sure you wanna come with?” Remus taunted. “Your Thomas won’t approve.”

Dee bared his teeth. “I’m not letting you go off and do it unsupervised.”

Remus shrugged, but his grin grew a little brighter, a little wilder. “It’s not like I have some good motive for doing this, you know. I’m not saving anybody.”

“Does it really change anything?”

Remus let out a cackling laugh, bouncing up and bounding away. Dee followed, at a much smoother, but equally fast pace. 

Remus stopped outside of a prison. It was the middle of the night, so there wasn’t hardly any visible activity, but with his enhanced hearing, Dee could hear the telltale quiet crying. It had been converted, at least partially, into a holding place for vampires. 

“I didn’t even know there  _ were _ this many vampires before this insanity happened,” Dee murmured. 

“You didn’t? How long have you lived in a bubble?”

Dee glared, but Remus was already walking up to the gates. He knocked on the door. 

“Hey, Dee, you do know how to make thralls, right?”

“What? No.”

Remus’ eyes widened for half a second. But then the door was opening, and he was turning to it with a feral grin. He leapt on the guard, sinking his fangs into their throat, not bothering with any kind of care. He pulled back, and the guard slumped to the ground. 

For a second, Dee thought he’d killed them, but then they starting groveling. 

Remus crouched in front of them. “A huge group of vampires came, attacking and killing, there were too many, you couldn’t stop them. You only barely escaped with your life.” 

The guard started quaking, their eyes wide with fear. 

“Run.”

The guard bolted. 

Remus turned to Dee with a crazed smile. “Now for the rest of them!”

  * •^*^••



“Where have you been?!” Thomas yelled. “I’ve been looking for you for hours! I thought you’d been hurt! Or captured! You can’t just do that!”

Remus elbowed Dee. Dee shot him a dirty look. “It was his idea. I just went along to babysit.”

“And you didn’t tell me?! Dee, it would have taken you barely a minute!” 

Dee wilted slightly. He’d known Thomas would be upset, but not this much. “I’m sorry.”

But Thomas wasn’t ready to be so easily calmed. “And Remus is covered in blood! What did you even do?!”

“It was a prison break!” Remus said gleefully. Lucky bastard was still riding a high from the adrenaline and excess of blood. 

Thomas turned to Dee, his face demanding answers. 

“Yeah, it was a prison break. We should probably move out pretty quickly. They won’t be looking for us, but if they find us anyway it could be bad.”

Thomas’s face clouded over, his jaw tightening. When he spoke his voice was strained with the effort to speak calmly. “Then we’ll leave, but while we’re driving you’re going to explain this.”

Dee nodded, letting his head hang. He was  _ not _ letting Remus drag him anywhere ever again. 

  * •^*^••



Emile sat on the couch, looking out over water, holding a cup of steaming tea in his hands. 

Logan settled beside him, also with a hot drink. 

“This feels wrong.”

“Oh?”

“It’s too calm. The others are on the run, Virgil is heavily injured, and I’m sitting with a cup of tea watching the sun rise.”

“Your part is just as necessary, Logan.”

“For what?! What purpose am I serving?”

Emile lifted his cup to his lips. “You made the plan, Logan. Tell me, what is your purpose here?”

Logan turned to look at him, anger sparking in his eyes. “I’m here because my presence would hinder the other teams.”

“You are not a hindrance. What is the purpose of this team?”

Logan’s jaw clenched. “To monitor the progress of the hunters and to be an early warning system or backup for either of the other teams.”

Emile nodded. “I believe that monitoring the hunters is something to which you are especially suited. You have a good base of knowledge on the hunters, and the skills to infiltrate their systems to gain more. If we are to be the early warning system, I believe that it is you who will first recognize what they need to be warned about.”

Logan turned his head away, taking an angry swing of his drink. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m not suggesting that you need to like the situation. It’s awful. Our lives are at stake, and we have been maneuvered to a position where we are made almost entirely impotent.”

From behind them, Emile heard Remy snort. 

“That’s not very helpful,” Emile admonished, sending Remy an exaggerated frown. 

But to his surprise, there was a slight huff of amusement from Logan. “Thank you, Emile. If you need me, I’ll be in my room.”

  * •^*^••



When Patton woke from his nap he was feeling much better. His scalp was still a bit sore if anything touched his head, but that would probably go away soon. He looked around for a clock, and was surprised to see that he’d been sleeping for nine hours. 

“Oh, I hope Roman’s alright,” Patton said quietly, getting up and heading straight for Virgil’s room. 

Virgil was awake, but Roman wasn’t, slumped over the edge of the bed, one hand tucked awkwardly underneath him and the other laying on Virgil’s head. 

Virgil sent him a smile, which Patton immediately returned, with interest. “Are you feeling better?” He whispered. 

Virgil nodded. “Much better.”

“Good!” Patton said. “You’re looking a lot better.”

The welts on his exposed skin weren’t raised anymore, though they were still pretty red. 

“I’ll take Roman to bed, and then come back.” Patton said, shaking Roman’s shoulder. 

“Wha— Huh?” 

“Come on, Ro. Let’s get you to your bed.”

Roman let loose a slurred speech, something about belief and worth. 

“Oh, yes, come on, let’s get to bed,” Patton said, slipping under his arm and propping him up. 

Roman stumbled along, flopping down in his bed when they reached it. He was still sleep-talking, which Patton could barely understand any of, but agreed with regardless. He pushed Roman the rest of the way into the bed and draped a blanket over him. Roman let out one final burst of words, more slurred than ever, before dropping into a deeper sleep. Patton smiled down fondly at him. 

Patton went back to Virgil’s room. “How’re you feeling, Kiddo?”

“Better. Still sore, but I think I could move now.”

“Oh, that’s good! I think I’d rather if you waited until you’re sure you can move, though. I really don’t want you to have to hurt any more.”

Virgil nodded. 

“Is there anything I do that would help you feel any better?”

Virgil suddenly looked down, biting his lip. He looked… embarrassed?

“What is it?”

Virgil looked up at Patton, and flushed. That was good! If he had enough blood to blush he would probably be able to be fully healed in a day or two. 

“Could you… maybe… play with my hair?” His voice got quieter and quieter as he spoke, embarrassment ringing clearly. 

“Of course I will!” Patton said, sitting on the bed near his head and stroking his hand through his hair. 

All the tension left his body. His eyes slipped shut and he leaned his head into Patton’s hand. Oh, it was so cute! Patton held his tongue for Virgil’s sake, but inwardly promised himself to pet his hair as often as possible in the future. 

A few minutes later, Virgil was asleep. Patton’s eyes filled with tears. He was so precious and soft. How could anyone imagine hurting him? And then the fact that it was his own dad that did it stabbed his heart again. Patton still felt like it was his fault. He could’ve—should’ve done so many things. 

But. If he looked on the bright side. At least Virgil was safe now. And Patton would never, never let him anywhere near his dad ever again. He didn’t care how many times his dad apologized, he’d never let Virgil near him. He was going to keep him safe. 

  
  
  
  



	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of love you guys have given this story is staggering. Thank you so much! It would not exist without the support of people reading and commenting!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twenty**

  * •^*^••



The next morning Virgil was doing much better. Patton finally felt like he could relax. 

They were currently staying in a small cabin deep in the woods, far enough removed from civilization that they shouldn’t have to worry about being discovered. There were three teeny rooms, a bathroom, and a room that wasn’t really divided between kitchen and living room.

Virgil had moved to the couch, but was dozing off again. 

Roman was making himself some toast, and rummaging around in the fridge for something to spread over it. 

“... and really, strawberry is one of the best jellies for toast, especially with plenty of butter. But for pb&j, grape is better. Did you have a favorite? It wasn’t that long ago that you still ate jelly, right?” Roman finally came out of the fridge, turning to face Virgil as he waited for his answer. 

Patton was watching Virgil as well, curious to see what he would say. To his surprise, and dread, Virgil looked absolutely terrified. He was staring fixedly at the butterknife held loosely in Roman’s hand.

Roman took a step forward, worry written all over his face. “Virgil?”

Virgil let out a sob, flinging himself backward. “No! No, please! Please!”

Patton got up quickly, going to Virgil to comfort him. But Virgil flinched away from his hands. 

“No, no, no… please, please don’t! Please!”

Virgil shut his eyes tightly, pushing himself into the back of the couch and curling in on himself.

“I-I didn’t do anything! Please don’t!”

“Virgil, Virgil, it’s just me. It’s Patton.”

Virgil shook his head, burying it in his knees. “No, nonononono…” 

His whole body was shaking, both from fear and from the sobs tearing out from his throat. 

Patton put a hand gently on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil reacted even more violently to that, jerking away harshly and letting out a broken cry as if the touch had burned him. 

Tears were pouring down Patton’s face. What was he supposed to do?! His hands went up to his hair, tugging as he tried to think of something, anything to help Virgil. 

Hands landed on top of his, guiding them down. 

“Patton, don’t do this.” 

Patton turned to see Roman, tears also running down his face, but calm, or at least much calmer than Patton was.

“How can you say that?!” Patton cried, much more loudly than he’d intended. Virgil flinched hard, and his sobbing got louder, the pleas becoming more and more broken.

An irrational anger seized Patton. “This is your fault!”

Roman reeled back as if the words had physically slapped him. For several seconds, his face was raw with pain, but then reverted to the determined calm. He moved forward, wrapping Patton in a hug. Patton struggled against it, especially as Roman tried to pick him up. 

Roman took him away from Virgil. 

Patton didn’t exactly scream. He’d hardly ever screamed in his life. But he certainly did kick and yell and pound his fists against Roman. 

“Patton, Patton please, calm down.”

“No! You can’t take him away from me! Put! Me! Down!”

Roman made it into one of the bedrooms and closed the door, sitting on the bed with his arms firmly around Patton’s waist. 

“Please, listen to me, Patton,” he said, his voice losing its calm a bit. “He doesn’t know it’s us right now. He’ll feel safer alone than with people he thinks would hurt him.”

Patton froze, and then went limp in Roman’s arms, sobbing desperately into his shoulder.

“I-I want to he-help him!” Patton sobbed.

Roman’s grip loosened a bit, and one hand rubbed firm circles on Patton’s back. “I know. I know you do. The best way to help him right now is to stay put, ok? Just stay with me.”

“I  _ hate  _ this!”

“I know, Pat, I hate it too. I hate it so bad for the both of you.”

Patton clung to Roman. He could still hear Virgil from the living room, pleading his innocence and begging not to be hurt. Patton felt like he lost the last bit of his sense then, turning into a sobbing mess. 

“It’s alright. I’ve got you. I’m not letting go.” Roman said soothingly.

  * •^*^••



They’d been driving for ages. Ages and ages. 

Dee only opened his mouth before Thomas was answering him sharply. “Don’t you dare complain. It’s all your own fault. If you want it to be over, find us a place where we can stop.”

There was silence for several minutes. 

“I said I was sorry.”

Thomas abruptly pulled over. He turned to Dee, his eyes edging from anger into upset. “Do you even know how badly you scared me?”

Dee thought about it, his head drooping as he nodded. “Thomas, I’m sorry.”

Thomas blinked hard, rubbing his palm against his eyes. He sighed. “I forgive you. But if you ever…. I can’t--I can’t stand the thought of what might have happened, Dee. I can’t.”

Dee only had to reach out a little bit, and Thomas was pulling him into a hug. It was a bit awkward, trying to hug while in different seats in a car, but in the moment, it didn’t matter.

“So when’s the show gonna get  _ good? _ ” Remus said obnoxiously. 

Thomas sent him a withering glare. “I’m not done being mad at you, though.”

Remus shrugged. “I’ll add you to the list.”

  * •^*^••



Had he done it? That’d been surprisingly easy. Surely something wasn’t quite right. 

And yet Logan was now looking at an online map. It updated every minute, with orange dots for reported vampire sightings, and red dots for confirmed vampires. The amount of light on the map was concerning. 

Though it was true that he’d never tried to access this information before, and thus has no basis for how long or difficult it should be, Logan couldn’t help but think that this had been too fast. Too easy. 

He shut off his computer, unplugging it for good measure, before going downstairs. 

Emile was sitting on the floor, winding yarn around his fingers. Somehow he was weaving it, and Logan could see nearly a foot of it hanging from the back of his hand. He was also listening to a radio drama, which he paused when Logan reached the bottom of the staircase. 

“Hi, Logan! How’s it going?”

Logan sat down near him. “I think I’ve found the way to be the early warning system.”

Emile beamed, sunshiny energy radiating from him, and not at all matching the worry Logan felt. “That’s excellent! I knew you’d get it at some point.”

Logan couldn’t really frown in the face of that, but his face stayed solemn. “It’s just— it’s too easy. There’s no way I should’ve been able to access that. I barely had to do anything even resembling ‘hacking’.”

Emile sobered, nodding slowly. “And you think it could be a trap?”

Logan nodded. 

“In that case, we’ll have to use it sparingly, if we use it at all.”

Logan nodded. “I’d be more inclined to avoid using it entirely.”

Emile looked thoughtful. “Do you think that you could find another way, or that they’d all have the same problem?”

Logan thought about it for a bit. “It’s possible either way.”

Emile nodded. “Why don’t you get something to eat, and then take a short rest. After that, you can call the other teams and make sure they’re still doing well. After that, try again. You’ll have had time to let the idea sit in the back of your head, and I’m sure you’ll have an easier time thinking about it.”

That made sense. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Emile.”

“No problem!”

Logan ate, grateful that Emile had been the one to go shopping. After a nap, he picked up the phone. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Logan. What’s up?” Dee said. Which was odd, since he’d called Thomas’s phone. 

“I’m ensuring that you’re alright.”

“Yeah, we’re fine. We’re staying at a campground for the night. How’s Virgil?”

“I haven’t called them yet. It’s possible that they won’t have enough service.”

“Mm. Well, if you get an update, call us back.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Thanks. Want to talk with Thomas?”

“It’s not necessary, unless he has something else to tell me.”

There was a pause. “Yeah, I think he might.”

“Hello? Logan?” Thomas asked. 

“Hello, Thomas. Dee said you had something you wished to tell me?”

There was an exasperated sigh. “Yeah. So he and Remus went and busted up a prison. The inmates and the vampires scattered, and we left, so I don’t know what happened after.”

Ah, so that had been the cluster of red dots. It had been remarkably more dense than any others. 

“Are you sufficiently far away from it now?”

“Yeah, we’re a good 150 miles away now. Dee doesn’t think that they were recognized or anything. Remus thralled the guards apparently.”

“Alright. While this is certainly not ideal, as long as you believe you haven’t been followed, and as long as it doesn’t happen again, it should be fine. A large number of hunters will be focusing on the prison, not on possible vampires driving cross-country.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

Logan nodded, and then remembered that Thomas couldn’t see him nodding. “Well, thank you for the report. I will call again in a few days.”

“Yep! Nice to talk to you, Logan.”

“Likewise.” 

Logan hung up the phone and dialed a very familiar number. 

  * •^*^••



It was several hours later when the door to the bedroom opened. 

Patton gripped Roman tight as if he was being pulled away. “Virgil.”

Virgil stood in the doorway, his face still streaked with tears, and his head down. “Sorry. That wasn’t—wasn’t fair to you at all.”

Patton shook his head vigorously, letting go of Roman. “Can I hug you now?”

Virgil looked up, fresh tears welling in his eyes. “Please.”

Patton rushed to him immediately, hugging him tight, and breaking into tears again. 

Roman slowly got up. He was… tired. They must be too. He guided the pair to the bed. 

“Why don’t you two lay down? You need a break.”

Patton looked at him with an almost pout, his forehead creasing in a frown. “Not without you. You’ve had to be strong for all of us. There’s no way you’re missing the group hug.”

Roman just… he felt numb. And tired. But if they laid down for the group hug he could fall asleep. 

So he agreed. As he expected, once they were all laid together Virgil and Patton dropped right off. But he was left awake. Somehow, even with how tired he was, he couldn’t seem to shut his eyes. 

A long time later, his phone buzzed in his pocket, breaking him out of the slight doze. 

“Hey, Lo,” he said, quietly enough not to wake Patton and Virgil. 

“Hello, Roman. Is everything alright there?”

“I mean, yeah, more or less.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, why?”

“Usually your answers are more confident.”

Roman hesitated, feeling his eyes prickle for a minute. “Yeah, it’s— I’m fine.”

“Forgive me if I do not believe you. Has something happened?”

“Yeah… it’s dealt with now, though.”

“What was it?”

“Virgil had a— a flashback or something. He couldn’t stand for us to touch him, or be near him, so I took Patton into the other room until they calmed down some. They’re asleep now.”

“Roman, while I usually appreciate your brevity, I can’t help but feel that you’re hiding something from me. Would you tell me again? From the beginning?”

Roman squeezed his eyes shut, but that didn’t stop the tears from leaking out. He had to take several breaths before he could speak. “It was my fault. I had a butter knife, and I didn’t even think about how it would look. I-I stepped toward him, and it was in my hand. Logan I— he was terrified of me! I-I-I couldn’t do anything.”

“Roman, no. A butter knife is a completely innocuous item. Had what happened to Virgil not happened, there would be no problem. None at all.”

It was getting very hard to keep quiet, so Roman started untangling himself, and easing out of the bed. 

“But it did happen! I should’ve known. Logan it’s—I-I hurt him! And Patton!”

“No. Roman, both from what you’ve said and also from what I know of you, I’m absolutely certain that you did everything in your power to help them both.”

“But I’m the one to hurt them in the first place!” Roman said, his voice cracking. 

There was a brief murmur on the other end of the phone as Logan spoke to someone else. 

“Roman, the one that hurt Patton and Virgil was Liam Hart. Not you. Where are you at this moment?”

“In the living room.” Roman scrubbed at his face. 

“I want you to go out the front door.”

“What? But—“

“Do this for me, Roman. I will text Patton so that he will know where you’ve gone if he wakes up.”

“O-ok.” Roman went outside. “I’m outside.”

“Good. Now I want you to walk forward briskly. Keep going until I tell you to stop.”

Roman started walking. Logan kept talking about something technical he was working on, occasionally reminding Roman to walk briskly. Roman didn’t understand half of what Logan said, but the distraction was welcome. 

“Alright, now stop.” 

Roman stopped. “What is this for?”

“Imagine a circle,” Logan said. The cabin you are staying in is the center, and you are now on the edge.”

“Ok.”

“The circumference of the circle is your perimeter. I want you to walk the perimeter. Take in your surroundings, so that you can recognize where you are. You may do this at whatever speed you wish.”

Roman turned and started walking. “Ok, but what is this for?”

“While you walk the perimeter, I want you to tell me again what happened. Go into detail.”

It took Roman a good three minutes to begin, but Logan waited patiently. And then the story came flooding forth. At every pause, Logan again reassured Roman that what happened was not his fault, that he had helped, and had prevented further harm. 

“I-I got back to where I started,” Roman said, sniffing. 

“Well done, Roman. I want you to walk the perimeter one more time. This time, I want you to tell me what you can change. Whatever, no matter how small or how large. What can you change to prevent another similar situation, or to help if a similar situation happens again.”

“I don’t know what else to do!” Roman protested. “I did everything I knew to, and it wasn’t any good!”

“On the contrary. You did a lot of good. They are right now calmly asleep, and you brought that about. Now think of something. Could you perhaps remove the butter knives from the house?”

“Y-yeah. I could do that. Or—or paint them with something so they don’t look like silver.”

“Excellent. What else can you change?”

By the time Roman again reached the point where he started, he was feeling worlds better, and was filled with ideas that made him feel like he really could do something next time.

“Now, head back inside. Patton is awake, and I believe he will want to speak with you as well.”

“Thanks, Logan. I really, really needed that.”

Roman could hear the surprised smile in Logan’s voice. “I’d be willing to help anytime you need it. Though the perimeter will always be there. Feel free to use it again if you find yourself spiraling.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Roman hung up the phone, which had only 3% left on it, and looked up to see Patton waiting for him on the porch. 

“Roman!” Patton ran into him, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry! I said something really, really hurtful. I didn’t mean it. I’m so sorry.”

Roman hugged Patton back. “I forgive you. You were upset, and didn’t know what you were doing.”

“No I wasn’t. I-I knew. It was supposed to hurt you. But I’m so sorry I did it!”

Roman held Patton tighter. “I still forgive you. Come on, let’s go back inside. None of us really ate anything today.”

“Ok. Thank you.”

  
Roman gave Patton a smile before opening the door.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	21. Chapter 21

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twenty One**

  * •^*^••



  
  


They were sitting around the table, armed with paintbrushes. Virgil had not a single clue where Roman had gotten them or the paint from, and every time he asked Roman was needlessly cryptic. 

Roman and Patton had painted a base coat on all the butter knives first, before they allowed Virgil into the room, and now they were all painting designs together. 

“So…” Roman said slowly. “Would now be an awful time to talk about the thing?”

Instantly, their previous conversation, with Roman’s promise to bring Patton into it, resurfaced in Virgil’s mind. 

“What thing?” Patton asked. 

Roman looked at Virgil, who ducked his head, pretending to be engrossed in his painting. “Virgil was trying to say that he wasn’t worth us worrying over him, because he’s just a vampire.”

Patton let out a small gasp, and Virgil ducked his head lower, not able to look up at his face. “Why is this a problem?” He muttered. “You both know it’s true.”

“We love you, Virgil!” Patton exclaimed. “Vampire or not, that isn’t going to change. We love you, and we think you’re worth every bit of it!”

Virgil smiled, but didn’t raise his head. “Thanks, Patton.”

Patton turned back to his painting, satisfied. But Roman wasn’t. 

“No, I’m not just leaving it there, cause you’d still jump in front of a bullet for us.”

“Of course I would,” Virgil said firmly, looking up at Roman. “I happen to like you guys too.”

“But it’s not just that,” Roman pushed, ignoring the little sound of Patton starting to say something. “You’d also starve yourself if you thought you’d taken too much blood from us, wouldn’t you? And you wouldn’t ask, you’d pretend you were fine.”

Virgil frowned. “I’m  _ not  _ chancing hurting one of you.”

“You aren’t hungry now, are you?” Patton asked, his face full of softness and willingness to help. 

Virgil hesitated a long second. He wasn’t really all that hungry. Shouldn’t be hungry; He’d been eating so much. He’d certainly last at least another week before he had to eat. “No, I’m not hungry.”

“You’re lying,” Roman said immediately. “You’re lying to our faces.” 

Virgil ducked his head again. 

Patton put a hand on his arm. “I know you’re trying to be nice, and to be thinking of us first, but… Virgil, I don’t want you to lie to me.”

And that hurt. That really, really hurt. 

“I won’t lie to you either. If I don’t think I can give you blood I’ll tell you so, ok? We’re not trying to trick you into hurting us.”

Roman spoke again, his voice much gentler. “It’s like you think any time you interact with us you’re going to hurt us.”

“I  _ will. _ ” Virgil said, his voice coming out strained. “I will and I won’t mean to and I’m not going to let it happen!”

“No, you  _ won’t _ .” Roman insisted. “Virgil, you’ve put so much care into everything you’ve done, I can’t believe you’d ever hurt us.”

Patton’s hand moved from Virgil’s arm up to the top of his head. Virgil closed his eyes, but a tear dropped onto the table anyway. 

“Then why do you keep pushing me to stop being careful?”

“Virgil, I don’t want you to stay trapped in this fear. You can eat now, from anyone, and you wouldn’t have to be scared of hurting them, since you learned how to do it right. I want you to be able to do that with other things too. If you go around terrified of yourself because you’re a vampire, and you don’t do anything about it, you’ll always be terrified.” Roman said. 

“What do you want me to do about it!?” Virgil yelled. “I don’t know how to do anything, and I don’t have anyone to teach me, and every time I try something new someone gets hurt!”

Patton moved his whole chair to come closer to Virgil, stroking his hand through his hair gently. “It’s alright. Whatever we do we’ll figure it out together.”

Virgil felt simultaneously loved, and under intense pressure, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to respond. 

  * •^*^••



It was quite a while later when Patton’s phone rang. 

“Hello?”

“Heya, Pat! How’s the babiest vampire doing?”

“Remus?”

“Aww, you remembered my name! But let me talk to him.”

“Um, ok.” 

Patton handed the phone to Virgil. 

“Hello?” 

Patton could hear Remus’s voice vaguely chattering on, but couldn’t discern what he was saying. Virgil was quiet, not saying anything at all in answer. But he was getting pale. 

“Virgil? What’s he saying?”

Virgil didn’t answer Patton, or react at all to him, just kept staring at nothing and listening to Remus talk. His face was getting wound tighter and tighter, until it suddenly stopped. 

“Thank you. It’s fine.” And then Virgil hung up. 

“What happened?” Patton asked. 

Virgil just shook his head and handed the phone back. “I-I need some time alone please.”

  * •^*^••



Roman came back inside with an armful of wood. They didn’t really  _ need  _ a fire, but fires were calming, and getting the wood had been calming for him. And they needed some calm. 

To his surprise, Virgil was sitting alone on the couch, staring into the empty wood stove. 

Roman set the wood down. 

“If I’d…” Virgil said softly, not looking at him. “If I knew how to make a thrall, or to move fast like Dee, or how to make humans calm, or something…… would it have been enough to stop what happened?”

Virgil turned his eyes on Roman, and Roman could see the absolute brokenness on his face. Roman went quickly and tucked him against his chest. Virgil’s shoulders shook silently, the crying muffled in a way that reminded Roman of the coffins, and not in a good way. 

One hand cupped the back of Virgil’s head, and the other rubbed along his back. Roman rocked back and forth slowly. He wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed like anything he could say might just make it worse. 

It was a long time before Virgil pulled away, rubbing at his face. “I-I ca-an’t let it—let it happen a-again.”

“Virgil, it wasn’t your fault. Not at all.”

“I-I couldn’t— couldn’t stop it!” 

“I know, but that wasn’t your fault. None of us could’ve stopped it. All of us together only barely managed to rescue you two. It’s not your fault. Not at all.”

“But was there something I could’ve done?” Virgil asked, looking up into Roman’s eyes and breaking his heart. 

“No. You did the very best you could.”

“I-if I— if I learned the vampire things, I could’ve done something.” 

Roman reached out to Virgil again. “Virgil, I do want you to learn, but I want you to be able to do differently next time. I’ll never, ever say that there’s something else you should’ve done to stop what happened.”

He stroked Virgil’s hair softly. “What’s brought all this on?”

“R-Remus told me how to— how to make a thrall. It-it’s not very hard to start. I-if— even if I didn’t practice much, just a little, I could’ve stopped Patton’s dad.”

Roman shook his head. “No, Liam Hart knows enough about vampires, he wouldn’t have let you catch him in a thrall. It’s his fault. He’s the one who hurt you, and who hurt Patton. You didn’t do that.”

Virgil was silent, but Roman knew he hadn’t convinced him. 

“Let’s work on this together, ok? You’re hungry, and you want to be able to do a thrall so you can help next time, right? I’ll let you practice on me.”

Virgil just curled in on himself. 

“Virgil, you’re the only one that can make this decision. If you don’t want to try a thrall I won’t try to make you, but at least eat.”

Virgil nodded. 

Roman slid his shirt to the side and braced for Virgil to bite down. To his surprise, there was barely a pinch of pain, and warmth flooded through his body, making him very calm and sleepy. It lasted for several minutes, and then the warmth heightened to heat, almost too much heat, and Roman’s eyes slipped closed, as his mind fell into an abyss.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Chapter!

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twenty Two**

  * •^*^••



  
  


Roman moaned, and Virgil pulled back. The punctures closed almost immediately. Roman’s eyes were glassy and dazed, and he was looking at Virgil as if he’d hung the moon. The dazed probably came from Virgil trying so hard to make the feeding a pleasant process, but the awed look in his eyes was something else. 

Virgil had made him a thrall. 

Unfortunately, Virgil wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen now. He’d never directly seen someone thralled before. But he could feel the link in his mind, and could probably sever it if he needed to. But that wasn’t what he needed to do. He needed to control it. 

Roman suddenly reached up to cup his hands around Virgil’s face and pull him closer. He started slurring something, the only word Virgil could make out being ‘more’. 

Virgil pushed his hands down and away. “No, I’m not drinking more. I’ve had enough.”

Suddenly Roman looked broken hearted, almost crying. He dropped his hands from Virgil’s face, grabbing one of his hands instead. He was apologizing over and over again. 

Virgil had no idea what to do. He was beginning to wish he’d lightened up on the good feelings, so Roman would be clearer headed and actually talk to him. 

Roman started pulling Virgil’s hand towards his face and— “No! No, no, you aren’t kissing my hand. Knock that off.”

Roman looked up at him for a second, tears growing in his eyes, and then tipped forward into Virgil’s lap, sobbing his heart out and apologizing. 

Ok, that was it. Enough experimenting. He’d try again later. This was just too weird. Virgil felt for the link in his mind. It felt like a really big rubber band almost. He imagined a pair of scissors cutting through it, and felt it sever. 

Roman went limp. 

Crap! What had he done wrong?

Virgil checked for breathing and a pulse, and while he did Roman started waking up. 

“Wha happened?” he asked blearily. “ i’s so warm.”

“I… I tried to thrall you.”

Roman pushed himself into a sitting position, frowning slightly as he realized he had been in Virgil’s lap, and bringing his hands up to rub his eyes, and frowning at the tears when he pulled them away. 

“What happened? I’m assuming it worked.”

“Well,” Virgil wrapped his arms around himself. “You went all loopy, and you wanted to kiss my hand.”

Roman’s face scrunched. Virgil’s scrunched in sympathy. “I didn’t like it any better than you do.”

“So why did you stop? It hasn’t been that long. Did you figure out what you needed?”

Virgil shook his head. “It was creepy.”

Roman nodded. Then he opened his arms. “Come on, we need some hugs where neither of us is crying.”

Virgil was all too happy to comply. 

  * •^*^••



“Of course I’ll try!” Patton said, once Roman had explained to him. 

Virgil was a lot less enthusiastic. “I don’t want to make you all weird.”

“But that’s how you figure out how to  _ not  _ make me weird.” Patton said cheerfully. 

Virgil groaned. There was no winning this argument. Not when half of his own brain was siding with them anyway. 

“Do you want a hug first?” Patton asked. 

“I’d rather a hug instead…” Virgil grumbled, but let Patton wrap him in a hug. 

Virgil might be able to pick up Patton in one hand, and Patton may be the same size, but it was times like these that Virgil could feel the age difference, as if Patton were becoming the older brother he didn’t have. He rested his forehead against Patton’s shoulder. 

“I don’t like this.”

Patton stroked the hair at the back of his head, and Virgil melted into the touch. “I know. I don’t like it either.”

Patton pulled him away to look into his eyes. “But you’re strong, and you’re getting stronger, and someday it won’t be this bad.”

It didn’t feel like it. But Virgil offered Patton a small smile. Patton returned the smile and then some. 

“Now, do you want to start from my wrist, or my neck, or somewhere else?”

“Uh, wrist.”

Patton sat down on the couch and held out his arm to Virgil. Virgil bit down, pushing a burst of good feelings right away, but no more after that. It’d be better if Patton was lucid. He made the link, and felt Patton relax. 

He pulled away, putting care into healing. Someday it would be natural, but today was not that day. 

“I can give you more blood!” Patton blurted out. “Come back!”

“I don’t want anymore,” Virgil said. 

Patton’s face became wildly sad. “Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry!”

Virgil reached out first this time, putting his hand against the side of Patton’s face and wiping the tears away with his thumb. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re amazing, Patton.”

“I am?” Patton asked, looking up at him so brightly and hopefully. 

“Yes, you are.” 

Patton looked close to combustion from happiness. “What else can I do?”

“Uh, I don’t think there’s anything…” 

Patton’s face fell, his lip quivering. “Nothing?”

“Of course there’s something,” Roman said, coming to sit closer. “You can sit still for us.”

But Patton entirely ignored him, his eyes focused only on Virgil. 

Virgil patted his lap. “Why don’t you lay down here.” 

Patton immediately laid down, looking up at Virgil brightly. 

Virgil stroked a hand through his hair. “Well done.”

“Are you happy with me?”

“Very.”

Patton was practically vibrating with happiness. 

“Now, I want you to just go to sleep, ok?”

Patton nodded, closing his eyes. For as excited as he was, he seemed to slip off quite easily. 

“Is this what I was doing?” Roman asked in a whisper. 

Virgil gave him a wry smile. “Well, you thought I was upset with you.”

Roman’s face scrunched. 

Virgil closed his eyes, stroking Patton’s hair absently. He could almost see the link in his mind, like a wide, thick rubber band. His best guess at control was to make the rubber band smaller and larger, or perhaps thick and thinner, but without cutting it. 

He spent the better part of an hour pulling and pushing at the band, but with no lasting effects, other than a growing headache. Finally he gave up. For the time being at least. He cut the band. 

Patton was already limp, but Virgil checked for breathing and a pulse still. He seemed fine. Unlike Roman, he stayed asleep, snoring lightly in Virgil’s lap. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas woke up, a bit groggy. Dee was hovering over him, looking worried, but his face was bright red. 

Thomas reached up to him. “Are you ok?”

Dee nodded. “I guess.”

Thomas sat up and stretched, trying to gauge how much time had passed. He wouldn’t guess that it was any more than an hour. He had tears on his face again. 

“Do you want to try again?”

Dee looked away. “Not really.”

Thomas held out his arms. He could tell when Dee needed a hug. It wasn’t often enough for his taste, but he was sure to always take advantage of it when it happened. 

Dee gave him a quick hug, and then pulled back, his eye lit with something other than embarrassment. “I want to try something.”

Thomas smiled. “Shoot.”

“I want you to resist it this time. If—Not if it becomes painful or anything, but I want you to try.”

Thomas nodded seriously. “I can do that.”

“Then we can try again after a break. Can you stand?”

Thomas felt rather wobbly, but with Dee helping him up, he could stand. Dee walked him around the campsite, hovering to catch him if he started to fall. He also insisted that Thomas eat and drink something before they tried again. 

“Ok. I’m ready.” 

Dee nodded, still hesitating. 

Thomas slid his shirt over and Dee bit down. 

Thomas was shocked to find that it hurt some. The rush of warmth and sleepiness that usually came with Dee feeding was gone. And then came heat. Thomas focused on keeping his eyes open. The heat wanted him to relax and to let himself sleep, but if he could keep his eyes open. If he could just… 

Dee pulled away, and it hit like a gut punch. Thomas’s mouth fell open in silent protest. What had he done wrong? He’d done what Dee told him to, what was wrong!?

Dee, perfect, amazing Dee, just kept staring at him, carefully neutral. He must not want him to think he’d done wrong, but he must have or else he wouldn’t have stopped! 

Thomas only had one order to go on, and no confirmation that he was succeeding or failing. He had to resist. Resist what? He wasn’t sure anymore. Everything was so hot! 

All he could do was stare at Dee openmouthed, still trying to figure out what he was supposed to do and how he was supposed to do it. The heat grew. He couldn’t. Whatever he was supposed to do, he couldn’t resist the heat any more. 

His eyes started slipping closed, and he felt arms catch him before he could fall. “Good job, Thomas. Thank you.”

Thomas felt a powerful rush of happiness before he fell asleep. 

  * •^*^••



Patton was surprised to wake up in Virgil’s lap, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. 

He smiled up at him. “Hi, Virge.”

Virgil smiled back, stroking his hand through Patton’s hair so gently it didn’t even hurt his scalp. 

Patton stretched, but didn’t sit up. He was going to enjoy this. Virgil looked very calm, and it wasn’t often that that was the case. 

“Is Roman around?” Patton asked. 

“Somewhere. Maybe outside. Do you want me to get him?”

“No, no, stay here. I was thinking he could figure out a way to get us a movie.”

Roman came in then, carrying wood. “You awake now, sleepyhead?”

Patton chuckled. “Yeah, I’m awake. Do you think you could try to figure us out a movie?”

Roman considered. “Well, I found an ancient tv in the closet. If that works, and if I can find something that still works with it, maybe.”

It was a solid hour of Roman fiddling with old tv, and video cassettes, and all sorts of small problems, before he had them set up with the Fox and the Hound, one of the three cassettes he’d found in a drawer somewhere. 

And the entire time Patton got to lay with his head in Virgil’s lap. He had a prime view of Virgil’s face, and was incredibly pleased to see that he was relaxed the whole time, even laughing at Roman when Roman got stuck with something. 

Maybe things really would work out. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I were to try to make a weekly update schedule, what day of the week should I update on?


	23. April Fools!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Instead of the scheduled chapter about thralls, I wrote this instead!

Emile was very excited to be able to go on a vacation. Finally! He’d been… well, overworked probably wasn’t right, but certainly tired out. 

And then when he’d seen the ad for the cruise. He was walking along, and saw it taped to a telephone pole. At first, Emile thought that it was a lost dog poster, and that’s what drew him to actually read it. 

Well, it couldn’t hurt to call the number, could it? The poster did say cheap. Emile didn’t have too much money to spare, but if it was cheap enough, then maybe. 

He went ahead and dialed the number. 

“Hello, this is Remy’s cruise ship, how can I help you?” A slightly stiff voice answered. 

“Yes, hello. My name is Emile Picani, and I was wanting to know how much the cruise costs?”

“Oh, thank you for your interest! It’s planned to be a ninety day cruise. There are stops twice a week for any supplies and to pick up new passengers or for pleasure. The cost is three thousand dollars for the round trip, and this includes any luxuries while on the cruise ship, but does not include anything desired while on shore.”

Emile gasped. He wasn’t exactly an expert in cruises, but he was certain that that was far less than he would have to pay for anywhere else. But ninety days? His vacation certainly wasn’t that long. 

“Oh, wow. Well, um, when is the cruise? And what if I don’t want to go the whole ninety days?”

“The cruise goes along the American west coast, down to Hawaii, and other islands, and back up. With such frequent stops, you can get on wherever is closest to your current location. Of course, you can leave at any stop you choose, instead of staying for the entire cruise. May I ask where you live?”

“In Coquille, Oregon.”

“Coquille, Oregon,” the man repeated, slowly. “Yes, we do have a stop near there for the 15th.”

It was the tenth. That was in five days!

“Ok. What if I was only staying on the cruise for a week? How much would that cost?”

“Well, staying for the entire ninety days is preferred, but a week would cost you $300, and that would leave you between Eureka and Santa Rosa California, depending on how quickly we go.”

“Thank you. I’m not… entirely decided yet, but I’ll call you back tomorrow.”

“That would be good. I do hope you choose to ride with us.”

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful. Is there a website I can go to to see more information?”

There was suddenly a very heavy sigh from the other end of the line. “I’m sorry, but no. I certainly wish we had a website. It’s a miracle you found the advertisement.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I’ll call if I have more questions?”

“That would be amazing. Thank you so much, Emile.”

“You’re welcome!” Emile hung up. It was… a little confusing, and probably more than a little suspicious, but the man was certainly nice. 

  * •^*^••



Emile was packed up, and at the port, and ready to get on the ship. It wasn’t very big, as far as cruise ships went. But it looked plenty seaworthy from what he could tell, and as he got up to the deck, it seemed clean and well-run. There were only three other families on the ship, and one single guy, and that seemed to be about half as many as the ship could easily hold. 

A man in a captain’s uniform came to meet Emile. “Welcome, I’m glad you chose to come with us!” He spoke warmly, and Emile could recognize his voice from the phone. 

Emile stuck his hand out. “I’m glad I came too. Are you Remy, then?”

The man shook his head, “No, I just captain the ship and help run things for him. Remy is over there. He’s riding as a passenger right now, so any questions you may have regarding the cruise would be better asked of me or another crew member.”

Emile looked, and saw the only other single guy. He was wearing large, dark sunglasses, and a big leather jacket, despite it being quite warm. “Yes, I’ll make sure to find you or a crew member with any questions. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” the Captain said, shaking Emile’s hand and then walking away to talk with another family. 

A crew member walked up to Emile. “Would you like me to show you your room?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Thank you!”

  * •^*^••



Emile was surprised to find that the food was very tasty. And also that there wasn’t any alcohol served. Not that he really wanted any, but he thought that that was a part of all cruises. Instead there was a very large, very extensive coffee bar, which Remy was using almost constantly. 

Emile decided he’d try to strike up a conversation. He walked up to the coffee bar, only for Remy to hold up a hand. 

“Hold up there,” he said, peering over the top of his glasses. “Let me make yours. I’ll bet I can peg you perfectly.”

Emile was confused, but nodded. “Ok.”

Remy darted around the bar, filling a cup with… well, a whole lot of stuff. Then he covered the top with whipped cream, stuck a straw in, and handed it to Emile. 

Emile carefully took a sip. He always managed to burn his mouth when drinking coffee with a straw, and was surprised when he didn’t. The coffee was hot, but not hot enough to burn his mouth, and the taste was heavenly. 

Remy grinned cockily. “Yeah, I am just that amazing.”

Emile smiled, pulling the straw out to scoop up some whipped cream and put it in his mouth. “I’m Emile, and I heard you’re Remy?”

“Yep. And you’re on my cruise ship. Owned it for forty years.”

‘Forty?’ Emile mouthed, confused. “Like you got it from your parents?”

“Oh, no, they didn’t give me anything before they died.”

“They’re dead? I’m so sorry.”

But really, Emile was far more confused than sorry. Remy didn’t look any older than 30, how could he own a ship for forty years? And why would his parents be dead already? 

“Ah, don’t worry, they’ve been long dead. Plenty of time for me to get over it. Like the coffee?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I really do. Thank you.”

“No problem, toots, see you around!” Remy said, grinning and walking off. 

  * •^*^••



Emile was just walking slowly, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, when he walked past a bathroom door, and heard vomiting from inside. The sound instantly turned his stomach, and made him incredibly worried.

He knocked on the door. “Hello? Are you ok? Do you need help?”

“Fine,” a voice gritted out, and he recognized it as Remy’s. It was followed by more horrendous sounds, and then a miserable groan. 

“I don’t think you are fine,” Emile pushed. “Can I come in?”

“Heh, no.” 

Emile was only more worried, but didn’t try to force his way in. He did wait outside the door, though, until Remy stumbled out, looking very pale and miserable. 

“Are you ok? Do you need any help?” Emile held out his arms, in case Remy started to fall. 

Remy grabbed onto his shoulders, pushing until Emile was backed against the wall. “You really want to help me?” He asked, and somehow, despite how pitiful he looked, it sounded almost like a threat. 

“Yes, I do. If you’re sick, you ought to be in bed.” 

Remy leaned closer, “I’m not sick. Not in the way you’re thinking.”

  * •^*^••



Emile woke up from his afternoon nap. It was strange, he didn’t remember going to sleep. He stood up, swaying slightly. He felt rather lightheaded. It was probably from sleeping too long when he wasn’t used to it. 

He should probably eat something. 

Once in the dining area, one of the women was staring at him, almost unkindly. 

“You’re making  _ real  _ good friends with Remy, huh?”

Emile frowned in confusion. “What?”

“What, did you think no one would see what happened? Live your own life, but do it behind closed doors. There are kids on this ship.”

That made Emile even more confused, and a bit alarmed. He  _ certainly  _ didn’t remember doing anything kids would have to be kept away from. He never would do something like that. 

Maybe talking with Remy would clear things up. He ate quickly, and went to find him. 

“Yeah, Gurl, you weren’t doing so well. I put you to bed, and I guess it must’ve looked bad somehow. Nothing happened.”

“O-ok. Well… thank you, I guess.”

“Want a coffee? I’ll make you one.”

“That would be nice.”

  * •^*^••



Emile was walking by the bathroom, and heard vomiting from inside. It seemed both incredibly worrying, and somehow… familiar?

It was getting dark, but when the door opened a minute later, he could still see enough to see that it was Remy. Something instinctual warned him away, saying silently that Remy was dangerous. 

“Are you alright?”

“Again? Yeah, I’m fine. I chose to drink the coffee.”

Emile frowned. “Coffee makes you throw up like that? It can’t be good for you to keep drinking it if that happens.”

“Chill, it’s not like I’ll die.”

  * •^*^••



Emile was laying on his back, looking up at the stars between the clouds. Remy was laying near him, also looking up at the stars. 

“You know, I was a sailor for… probably two hundred years,” Remy said. 

Emile was confused. He got the feeling he’d been confused ever since he stepped foot on the ship. But despite the feeling, he couldn’t actually remember. 

“The work wasn’t something I wanted to keep doing, but the sea, and the stars, I just can’t get away from it. I bought my own ship a while back.”

Emile nodded, interested in the story despite his confusion. 

“Traded ships every time it looked too old, until I got this one. Captain has stuck with me for years, running all the hard parts. I just have to sit back and enjoy.”

Remy turned to look at him, his eyes bright and piercing without the sunglasses. “You know, you’re the most resistant of anyone I’ve ever met, and I don’t even think you’re trying.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a vampire.”

Emile was... surprisingly not shocked. 

“See, you knew already. It’s not I tried super hard to make you forget, but most humans just don’t want to hold on to information like that.”

“Why are you telling me then? Shouldn’t you leave me confused?”

“I should. But you seem nice. And you liked one of my favorite coffees, that has to count for something.” Remy sent Emile a bright smile. 

“If you’re telling me, does that mean—“

“No, no I’m not gonna hurt you or anything. If you want to remember, well… and if you want to forget, I’ll erase your memories of the whole cruise.”

“What if I want to remember?”

Remy’s grin brightened. “You’d be my human. I’ll keep you in the high life, at least as high as I can, and you’d hang around to keep me fed. You’d be like a sugar baby.”

“I have a home, a job, I don’t want to leave those behind.”

“Then maybe I’ll hang around you, try out land life for a while.”

“I barely know you. And half of what I do know is missing.”

“We have months to get to know each other.”

Emile shook his head. “I’m only staying a few more days.”

Remy frowned. “Oh, yeah. If you don’t want to, I’ll wipe your memory, you can go back and live your life.”

Something about that triggered a memory. “What happened the other day? The woman seemed rather upset about it.”

“Oh, that.” Remy shrugged. “I was hungry, you were there. She thought we were making out.”

Emile’s face grew red. “If I agree, that can't happen. Not ever. And you certainly can’t make me forget about it.”

Remy shook his head. “I wouldn’t. Not if you’re staying.”

Emile thought about it for a while, staring up at the stars again. “Wait until the week is over. I’ll decide by then.”

“Alright.”

  * •^*^••



Emile certainly felt pampered. Anything he could ever want was at his fingertips. But, it was also kind of smothering. And there was no way of it continuing indefinitely. Remy would certainly get tired of it before too long, and Emile really didn’t want to know what would happen if a vampire got tired of him after he knew too much. 

“Remy.”

“Yeah?” 

“I want you to leave me alone.”

Remy’s face fell. “Oh. Is that what you decided then?”

“No, I don’t mean permanently. I need space, and so do you. I will see you this evening, but until then I’d like to be left alone.”

Remy, for the first time being on the other side of the scenario, looked utterly confused. “Okay?”

But he did as Emile asked, staying away until evening. But that just gave him time to plan the most elaborate, fancy dinner he could possibly make with what he had available. 

He certainly was trying his hardest to get Emile to agree. Though Emile wasn’t sure why. Was he more attractive to vampires than most? Was it just because he was alone, and an easier target? Or could it be something more?

“So why a cruise ship?” Emile asked. “Why not a yacht or something?”

“That was the captain’s idea. He can’t stand the idea of throwing away money. So this way it’s close to breaking even, and I have as much as I could need to eat without taking too much from any one person.”

Emile nodded. “What’s the captain’s name?” 

Remy laughed slightly. “He’s got me mixed up with fairies, and he won’t ever tell me his name.”

Emile smiled at that, though it made him wonder how dangerous Remy really was. How dangerous he could be if he wanted to be.

“If I said yes, how would I know that you’d stop when I tell you to?”

“I stopped today didn’t I? Left you alone for hours.”

“But today you still want something from me. What about when you don’t?”

“I promise you, I won’t do anything you tell me not to.”

Emile’s lips tightened. “But I don’t know if I can trust you yet. I’ve only known you a few days, and the first of them you took advantage of me and hid it.”

Remy looked honestly ashamed. “Then I won’t ask you to trust me, but would you give me a chance?”

“I’ll still have to think about it.”

Remy nodded. 

  * •^*^••



Emile tried every test he knew, even outright provoking Remy, but nothing bad happened. But he couldn’t shake the fact that Remy still wanted something from him, and in such a short time frame, he could easily be faking it. 

It was the last day. He had to make a decision.

“What if I were to tell you to leave me alone, without wiping my memory?” Emile asked. 

Remy frowned, more in thought than anything else. “I can’t have you telling people that I’m a vampire. I’d have to change my name, change the whole route of the cruise ship. People hunt vampires, you know.”

Emile shook his head. “No, I didn’t know. I mean, I probably could’ve guessed, but I hadn’t heard of it before.”

“You…” Remy looked away. “Even though you’re all picky about everything, you seem genuinely nice. Like you wouldn’t turn me in or anything. If you asked for that, I’d do it.”

Emile didn’t like being called picky, but that is certainly how he’d been acting. “Why do you want me anyway? Just because I’m more resistant to your memory things?”

Remy shrugged, turning more away from him. “Maybe you just seem like someone I wouldn’t mind spending more time with.”

“You spend plenty of time with the captain, what makes me different from him?”

“Cause you’re not afraid of me. I mean, you’re plenty cautious, but you don’t go around acting like I’d shank you if you turned your back on me.”

Emile nodded slowly. “What if I were to say that you can come home with me on a trial basis? And if I decide later that you have to go, you would have to leave immediately and leave my memories intact.”

“If you give me a head start before you call the hunters.”

“I’m not going to call hunters,” Emile snapped. “Not unless you murder someone.”

Remy took in a long breath, and turned back to Emile. “Then say yes. I don’t— I don’t want to leave without you.”

Despite seeing his eyes through the dark glasses, Emile could see the stark hope in them. 

“Alright. We’ll still—“ Emile’s sentence was nearly cut off by Remy sweeping him off his feet in a hug, spinning around and around. He started laughing. “We still have to figure out details and boundaries as we go.”

“Anything!” Remy promised, finally setting him down. 

Emile felt his cheeks warm up as he looked at how happy Remy was. 

  * •^*^••



“And today is the anniversary,” Emile said, as Logan helped him move the couch aside. “And it’s kind of a tradition now.” 

The instant the floor was cleared Remy showed up, instantly picking up Emile in a hug and swinging him around and around while Emile giggled. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is indeed canon to Coffin, despite being an April fools thing. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed! And we will be back to regularly scheduled chapters next Wednesday!


	24. Chapter 24

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twenty Four**

  * •^*^••



“You know who I bet has tons of practice with thralls?” Patton said, after coming out of the third one that day, and Virgil saying that he hadn’t figured out any better how to change it. 

Virgil sighed. He’d gotten to where he could start the thrall with barely any blood, so he wasn’t worried about taking so much, but he hated biting them so many times in a day, even if they didn’t remember it. Maybe especially since they didn’t remember it. “Please don’t say Remus. I can’t handle another conversation with him about thralls.”

Patton’s nose wrinkled. “Oh. No, I wasn’t thinking of him. I was thinking Remy. We haven’t called Logan in a few days anyway.”

  * •^*^••



Thomas was just waking up again, exhausted. Trying to resist was  _ hard.  _

“You know, I could maybe show you how it’s done,” Remus offered, still at a distance that Dee had insisted upon. 

Dee bristled as Remus took a step forward. He stood up and between Remus and Thomas. “You touch him and I will  _ rip your throat out. _ ”

“Still touchy about your human, huh? And here I thought we were getting to be friends.” Remus took another step forward, clearly teasing, but Thomas had no idea how far he would go and still be ‘just teasing’. 

Dee hissed, crouching slightly, but this only seemed to encourage Remus, as he kept coming closer. “Stay away from him!”

Remus grinned. “Oh, I’ll leave your little human alone. But I’m getting really, really bored sitting around for you two to not figure things out.”

Remus was now only a couple feet away from Dee, and Thomas could feel the threat radiating off of both of them. He wanted to shout at them, to stop this before it became a fight, but it was as if every cell in his body was telling him that one movement or sound and he would end up dead. 

“Don’t take another step,” Dee hissed. 

“Didn’t you know, snakey?” Remus said, still walking forward. “Humans aren’t the only ones that can be thralled.”

“Of course I know,” Dee spat. “Doesn’t mean I want to try.”

“Not even if it means you figure it out?”

“No.”

“What a shame, I guess I’ll have to try Tho-“

Dee let out a growl and Remus was cut off by a swift gut punch. But instead of pressing the advantage, Dee hesitated, probably hoping that it would be enough. 

Remus also growled, though his was clearly far more playful, and he jumped at Dee. Dee was too fast to tackle, but the two of them were soon caught in a full-fledged fight. 

  * •^*^••



The fight was over the moment Remus got his teeth into Dee. 

Dee dropped almost immediately to his knees, inwardly snarling and fighting against the hold, but unable to move. 

“Whoa there, snakey, calm down,” Remus said, much of the teasing gone already. 

Dee found his mind calming despite himself. And when it was calm enough, he finally felt a slight curiousity. 

“There you have it, made a breakthrough!” Remus said happily. “Wanna tell the class?” 

Dee regained control of his head. He glared at Remus. “I hate you.”

“Aw, you don’t hate me, you’re just spitting mad. Wanna know why?” 

Dee glared harder, but he actually was curious. Thomas, and the thralls Remus had taken at the prison, heck, even the other vampires back when they were all together, had all seemed to adore the person thralling them. 

“Stay here, Dee Dee, I’ll be right back. I need to show you this one.”

Remus left, but not far, searching for something.

“Dee, are you alright?” Thomas asked. 

Dee couldn’t turn to look at him, but he could hear the fear in his voice. “I’m fine. Stay away from Remus.”

Then Remus came back, carrying a brown lump. Dee really hoped that it wasn’t what he thought it was. 

“Alright! Teaching materials have been acquired!” Remus said loudly, sitting on the ground beside Dee. 

Dee found himself moving to a sitting position without wanting to. 

“Okay, look here.” Remus had the lump, which now looked more like clay, thank goodness, and was molding it into a snake. He stuck a twig through the head and the end of the tail. “So, this twig is me,” he said, pointing to the one in the tail. “And the other one is you.”

Dee let go of his anger. Remus was an idiot, and infuriating, but it seemed he was genuinely trying to teach, in his own absurd way. “Ok.”

Remus smiled brightly. “And this is the link,” he said, pointing to the clay. “Now it can go two ways, up, or sideways.” He pinched the snake so it flattened out horizontally. “This is more what it looks like in my head right now. It’s sideways, so I can make your body do anything I want. A suuuper long time ago I had to say it all out loud, but I can just do it now.”

Dee found himself clapping. 

“Now the other way is up. You can’t just twist it though, you have to pinch it all the way up.” Remus said, demonstrating with his snake. “And up is feelings and thoughts and junk. Mostly making you fall in love with me.”

Remus batted his eyelashes, and Dee rolled his eyes. “But I haven’t been able to make the link change either up or sideways.”

“Oh…” Remus said disappointedly. “Well, anyway, you have a nice round little snake when you start, so you’re controlling his body and his feelings. You just have to figure out how to run a steamroller over your snake.”

“Do you really think of it as a snake?” Dee asked. Snakes weren’t exactly moldable. 

“Oh, no, mine’s a d*ck. I just figured a snake would make it easier for you.”

Dee cringed, and was suddenly able to, his body back under his control. 

“And when you’re done you just lop it right off!” Remus said cheerfully. 

“Please stop.”

“But I haven’t even talked about when you have more than one—“

“Stoooop…. please, Remus, I understand what you tried to say.”

“But then what does resisting do?” Thomas asked. 

“Oh! That’s like when—“ 

Dee shoved a hand over Remus’s mouth. “I get it. I’ll explain to Thomas. Later.”

  * •^*^••



After Patton and Roman had talked to Logan for a while, Virgil was handed the phone. 

“ _ Hey there, babycakes, heard you wanted to talk to me? _ ”

“Um… yeah, I guess.” Virgil stood up, pacing around the room. 

_ “What, now you’re leaving the conversation on me?” _

“No, no I didn’t mean to, I— well, we called because I’m trying to learn how to do a thrall.”

_ “A thrall,”  _ Remy gave a low whistle.  _ “That’s easy to try and hard to get good at.”  _

“Yeah, that’s what I’m figuring out. They… adore me, and forget as soon as they wake up.”

_ “Yepper, that sounds like a baby vampire.” _

“How do I stop it?” 

_ “You could try  _ **_not_ ** _ thralling your friends.”  _

Virgil heard a bit of a hushed conversation from the other end, mostly Emile fussing at Remy. 

_ “Ok, fine, what does your link look like? Describe it to me.” _

“It’s like a rubber band. One end is looped around me and the other one around the other person.”

_ “Hmmm.” _

“Remus told me how to start. He said I have to change its shape to control it.”

_ “Not necessarily. It’s typically better to work with what you know. Have you tried stretching it, like you would a normal rubber band?” _

“I thought about it, but I can’t figure out how.”

_ “Try that. Or no. You’ve been trying to make it have less of an influence, right?” _

“Yeah.”

_ “Try more influence first. Fold it in half, or loop it around a second time. Don’t worry so much about changing things the way you want, just change things and see what happens.” _

“Ok. I guess I can try that.”

_ “There’s a kid. Don’t worry too much, nobody learned a thrall in a week.” _

“Alright. Thanks, Remy.”

“ _ Eh, I owed Em a favo-oof. You’re welcome, kid. Call again if you have more issues.” _

Virgil laughed slightly, and Remy hung up. He looked up and saw Patton watching him expectantly. 

“What’d he say?”

Virgil handed Patton his phone back. “It’ll take a while. He gave me a few ideas, but mostly I have to just keep playing with it.”

“Well, we could practice now if you want,” Patton offered. 

Virgil sat down on the couch. “Why do you care so much? You’re taking hours and hours that you can’t even remember and giving them to me.”

“Well, I have to admit, I have some selfish reasons,” Patton said, sitting across from him. “I do care about you, and want to help you, but a lot of my reason is just that I’m really, really bored. I don’t have anything to do, or anywhere to go, and this helps me be not bored! And also you get really cuddly afterwards, and I’m always down for cuddles!”

Virgil flushed. It felt strange, being so well-fed that he could blush when he was embarrassed. 

“But I don’t want to push you,” Patton said. “Not for my own reasons, anyway. If you don’t want to do more today, we can try to watch another movie.”

“Maybe… a movie first, and then we can try again?”

“Sounds like a deal to me! I’ll go get Roman, I think I’d break the whole thing if I tried touching it.”

  * •^*^••



Liam sat up with a sigh of relief. That was much better. Even non lethal, a gunshot wound was wildly painful. 

The vampire was trembling slightly, eyes going between Liam’s face and his gun. Not for the first time, Liam wished that they’d figured out how to make a thrall go the other way. He’d certainly appreciate a small army of obedient vampires. 

He could, of course, bend nearly any vampire to his will, given enough time and a few supplies, but a thrall seemed much more efficient. And he needed that army soon. 

Vampires had his son, and he was not going to let them stay hidden much longer. 

  
  
  
  
  



	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is a momentous occasion! There are now 25 chapters! And over 50,000 words! 
> 
> I started this never intending to make a fourth chapter, and I am just blown away by how far it’s come! And I’m so happy to have gotten to talk to so many people in the comment section! 
> 
> Thank you all so much!

Patton was sitting on the couch, as this seemed to be a two-person-only type of job. 

“Ok! A little more! Just a little! Wait, wait, wait! Here! Don’t move!” Roman groaned. “He moved.”

Virgil was up on the roof, trying to get the antenna to catch a tv signal. With his better hearing, he could hear Roman yelling when the tv actually got a picture that wasn’t mostly static. 

They’d been working at it for quite a long time now, and it didn’t seem that they were getting very close. At least they were having fun. 

It was quite a while longer before the image was halfway clear, and Roman decided that it was as close as it would get. 

And then the three of them sat down to watch a movie. 

Patton patted his lap, and Virgil actually tipped over to lay down. He’d been so much more open to touch ever since they started practicing with the thralls. At first, Patton had been very worried that he felt like he owed it to them, but with how much Virgil leaned into his hand as he ran it through his hair, he seemed to enjoy it at least as much as Patton did. 

Roman was more aggressive with his affection, grabbing Virgil in a headlock and scrubbing his knuckles over his head. But after clearing it up the first time, where Virgil had thought it was some kind of attack, he was smiling, and even laughed once, squirming out of the hold and tackling Roman back. 

They still had to be careful with anything remotely silver-colored, as it made Virgil freeze up just by seeing it, and if they moved towards him with it he would go into a full blown panic attack. 

But other than that, the last few days had brought them closer and closer together. A little stir-crazy, but they were managing that pretty well, or at least Patton thought so. 

Virgil hadn’t quite figured out how to manage the thrall, but from what Patton heard, it was a pretty finicky thing to manage anyway. And that was what all the practice was for. He’d get it! Patton was sure of it. 

Virgil slowly melted more and more into Patton’s lap, his breathing slowing until it was barely there. Apparently vampires didn’t really need to breathe, and the habit of unconscious breathing slowed until it eventually stopped. Emile had explained that to him, and that Remy didn’t breathe at all while he was sleeping, and sometimes when he was awake too. It weirded Patton out, but he was getting a little better at ignoring it. 

Once Virgil was completely asleep, and the movie ended, Patton switched to the news. 

_ “—but everyone’s freaking out!”  _ A woman was saying.  _ “I feel like I can barely let my kids out of the house!” _

_ “You understand the reasons why, right?”  _ The interviewer asked. 

_ “Of course I do, but this is still just too freaky! My dad turned out to be a vampire. My dad! He could’ve been assaulting my kids when he came to our house! And what does that mean for me? Am I a part vampire? How am I supposed to get the vampire part out of me?” _

_ “From all reports, it is not possible to be a percentage of a vampire. You either are or are not.”  _ The interviewer said calmly, as if he was reading off of a script. 

_ “Then how are we going to stop the vampires? Who knows how far they’ve infiltrated!” _

_ “I’ve been assured that they are being rounded up very thoroughly.” _

_ “But it just takes one, doesn’t it? And that one could infect how many people?” _

The interviewer turned to the camera.  _ “This is why we’re trying to be sure and get every one. If you know, or suspect someone of being a vampire, please call the authorities. There are fool-proof tests, there is no way we will accidentally arrest anyone innocent.” _

_ “Well, that’s good.”  _ The woman said.  _ “But if vampires are real, and we’re practically crawling with them, who knows what else could be? Are werewolves real? Are ghosts? How would we even know?” _

_ “There have not been any confirmed reports of other paranormal creatures, however the government is keeping the possibility in consideration.” _

_ “I should hope so. This is all too dangerous! I don’t know why they’re trying to put any of them to work, it’d be safer to just kill them all.” _

Patton felt a minute stiffening in Virgil. He stroked his hand over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Virge, I’ll turn it off.”

Virgil’s eyes opened, and he turned to mostly hide his face. “Thanks.”

“Virgil, none of us think this way. Not for a second.”

Virgil nodded silently. 

Patton rubbed more firmly. “We’ll keep you safe, sweetheart. No one’s taking you.”

“It’s… it’s not… you’re… stuck up here.”

“What do you mean?”

Virgil rolled back to look up at Patton. “You’re stuck up here trying to keep me safe. You both just left your whole lives behind, and I’m— I-I’m not—“

Patton put a finger over his mouth. “Don’t you dare say you aren’t worth it. Don’t you dare.”

Virgil bit his lip, his forehead furrowing. He gave a slight nod. “But—“

“No buts, mister. Do you think I would lie to you?”

Virgil shook his head. 

“And I say you’re worth every bit of it.”

“I do too,” Roman said, butting his way into the conversation. “You’ve been adopted. I even got Logan in on it. And you aren’t getting out of this family that easily.”

“Roooman, that was a surprise!” Patton protested, but he wasn’t really upset. 

Virgil, on the other hand, looked awfully close to crying. 

“I—I don’t understand!” He said, his voice cracking. “Why do you even want me?”

Patton was instantly ready with a million reasons, but Roman spoke first. 

“I don’t think that’s true. I think you could understand, you just don’t believe us.” Roman put a hand on Virgil’s knee. “But we’re going to stay here, and keep wanting you, and keeping you, and making sure you’re as safe as we can make you, until you do believe it.”

And then Virgil did cry, curling into Patton and reaching out a hand for Roman. Roman grabbed his hand and moved closer, sandwiching Virgil between him and Patton. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas dropped to his knees as the pressure released, shuddering. 

“Atta’kid, Tommy!” Remus crowed. “Now you know how to get out of a thrall. A baby one, anyway.”

Dee went straight to Thomas, scanning his face intently. “Are you ok?”

“M’fine,” Thomas said, though really he felt like he was about to throw up. 

“Now Dee can try! And you can get out of his, and then he’ll learn how to do it better, and—“

“Shut up, Remus!” Dee growled. “Thomas isn’t doing anything else for a while.”

Remus froze, and then pouted. “Fiiiine, you two  _ are  _ learning, I guess.”

Thomas slowly got up, his legs wobbly. “I can— try again. Just give me a few minutes.”

“No.” Dee said firmly, hovering nearby to catch Thomas if he started to fall. “I’m already regretting letting you try this. No more. Not today.”

As much as his body wanted to quit, and as sore as his mind was, Thomas was worried. He suspected that he and Remus had the exact same worry, that something was coming, and that they wouldn’t be strong enough, wouldn’t be skilled enough. They had to keep practicing. With Remus as a teacher, as crude as he was, and with Dee’s skill and Thomas’s stubbornness, they might just make it.  _ If  _ they didn’t quit just cause Thomas was tired. He felt his own weakness keenly, but he refused to be the weak link that made them all get hurt. Not if he could help it. 

“An hour. I’ll rest for an hour, and we’ll try again.”

Dee frowned, far more concerned than angry. “Three.”

Thomas sighed, and turned it into a chuckle. “Two, and we get some dinner. Deal?”

“I’m driving,” Dee insisted. 

Thomas was glad to let him have that, and fell asleep almost as soon as the car started moving. 

  * •^*^••



“Come on, you can’t stay inside forever,” Remy said, rolling his eyes behind his glasses. 

“It’s dangerous!” Logan insisted. 

“For who, babes?!” Remy snapped. “For who? Cause it sure as hell ain’t you. Come on, Em wants to go out and I’m taking you with us before I can regret it.”

“I don’t want you to be going out either!” Logan said. “If someone touched you with silver, or recognized me, we’d be done for. Emile is the safest one, let him go if he wants.”

Remy’s eyes narrowed. “Hand me your silver.”

“What?”

“Hand it. Now. I know you have some.”

Logan frowned deeply, but reached into his pocket and pulled out the bolt he still kept there out of habit. 

Remy took it in his hand, rolled it around, and passed it back without changing his expression. His skin was reddish and irritated, but he hadn’t even flinched. 

“I drink. Coffee. Every day, babes. I’m not getting us caught over a little silver. Now stop being a wimp and go get in the car.”

“But—“

“Look, I can pass it off as an allergy,” Remy snapped. “If anyone gets us caught it’ll be you, acting all jittery.”

Logan reluctantly walked out to the car, where Emile was waiting. 

“Remy, what’d you do?”

“I touched his damn silver, leave me alone.”

Emile glanced between the two of them, concerned, but left Remy alone. 

The dinner actually went well, even if Logan was tense. No one paid them any attention, other than the waiter, and even that didn’t seem like too much. 

“I apologize,” Logan said, as they got back into the car. “I should… perhaps, be willing to trust you more.”

“Yeah, whatever, I was a prick too. It’s chill.”

Emile may have mostly hidden the proud smile, but the emotion wasn’t at all hidden, making Remy turn and stare out the window for the next while. 

“What do you think about popcorn and a movie once we get back?” Emile asked. 

“I’d take the popcorn,” Remy said. 

“Depending on which movie, I’d certainly be willing to partake with the both of you.”

Remy scoffed, shaking his head with a slight smile. 

  
  


  * •^*^••



“They’ve taken my son,” Liam said firmly. “I  _ will  _ see them go down.”

“Good man,” his superior praised, slapping him on the back. “And if there’s any way we can get your son back; you’ll have all the resources at your disposal.”

And with that, he handed over direct command of all the hunters in the state to Liam Hart. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a good thing that there’s no way Liam can find out where our boys are....


	26. Chapter 26

  * •^*^••



**Chapter Twenty-six**

  * •^*^••



Emile pushed his cart along, buying groceries. It was mostly just necessities. Bread, milk, eggs, and then ingredients for a slightly more special dinner he intended to make. 

It was a perfectly normal, average grocery trip, without even the possibility of bumping into one of his clients. Until he heard a strange sound, followed by someone speaking angrily. 

“We  _ just  _ had to get like  _ three  _ things!” The angry voice hissed, and Emile turned the corner. “I don’t have time for you to do this  _ again! _ ”

There was a man wearing one of those horrible hunter badges, and pulling on… something started rushing in Emile’s ears, and his stomach turned. The man was pulling on a  _ leash,  _ attached to a  _ collar,  _ around the neck of a vampire who was already muzzled, and trying to pull back. 

Emile could not, he could  _ not  _ stand to have this happen in front of him and do nothing. The man saw him staring and rolled his eyes, faking a smile. 

“Everything is under control, it can’t get away from me. Please do not be concerned.”

He yanked on the leash, and the vampire looked at Emile, trying to say something that just came out muffled, but sounded pained. 

Emile stepped forward, smiling and holding his hand out to the hunter. “My name is Emile, do you how do?”

The man froze for a moment in confusion, tentatively shaking his hand. “It’s uh, nice to meet you, but I’m actually pretty busy…”

“I’m a therapist, and I couldn’t help but notice you seem to be having some anger issues,” Emile said, letting his voice go sickly sweet. 

The man’s face twisted. “Look, I don’t need any—“

“See, there, it’s practically painted on your face,” Emile said, shaking his head. 

The man only got more angry. “Look, man, piss off, I don’t need a therapist.”

Emile's face twisted to rather look embarrassed. "Well, it was worth a shot. I was hoping that you'd feel indebted to me, and would be more willing to help. I'm really trying to get that package of granola, but it's quite a bit higher than I can reach."

The man blinked. "You-- You'd just use your psychology on random people like that?"

Emile shoved down the nausea that rose within him. That this person would be offended at him for something like this when he was holding someone on a leash-- he was so disgusted it was hard to keep it off of his face. But he just shrugged with a slight smile. "I can, and most of the time people actually fall for it."

Emile could see the unspoken ending of the sentence, 'I guess you're smarter than most' hit the man, and he every so slightly puffed up, all signs of anger gone. 

"I guess I don't mind getting your granola, but you can't just go around doing things like this."

Emile put on an innocent, embarrassed face. "Yeah, I guess it's not really very fair..."

He waited until the man was stretching up to get the granola off of the very top shelf. He yanked at the leash, pulling it right out of the man's free hand. He threw the end at the vampire. "Run!" 

The vampire was frozen for half a second, wide-eyed and scared, and then bolted.

  * •^*^••



Dee was sick of the circles underneath Thomas's eyes. He was sick of how tired they were making him. He couldn't just tell him no, though. Thomas was trying so hard out of a desire to keep them safe, and Dee couldn't say that that was a bad desire, because it wasn't, and he couldn't say that it wasn't needed, because it was. But that didn't mean he had to like it. 

Remus was right though, the thrall felt rather like a snake to him. Like he was sinking fangs into Thomas's mind and poisoning him. It was like there was a different poison in each fang, and he just had to figure out how to change how much he was releasing into Thomas when he bit down. But not this time.

"Don't fight this time," Dee said. 

"But that's the whole point," Thomas protested. 

"Just let me try it this way, ok?"

Thomas nodded.

Dee bit down, and almost immediately Thomas went limp, unresisting. Dee waited a minute to be sure he had a solid control before letting go of Thomas. Thomas swayed slightly, looking up at him plaintively. 

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Dee assured him. “It’s time for a long nap, ok?”

Thomas nodded eagerly. 

“Come on, lay down.” 

Thomas laid down so quickly he nearly slammed his head into the ground. But at least he was laying down now. 

“Good. Now go to sleep.”

Thomas closed his eyes immediately, and shortly after he fell asleep. 

Dee finally turned around to see Remus staring at him disapprovingly. He frowned. “I will  _ not  _ let him wear himself ragged over this.”

“So you’re willing to thrall him and force him to do what you want him to do, even when you know he wouldn’t want to?”

Somehow the words pierced him. That wasn’t… that wasn’t what he was doing. Was it?

Dee didn’t have an answer. He sat down near Thomas, shoving the question away. For the moment he’d focus on making sure nothing woke Thomas up. 

  * •^*^••



Patton’s eyes popped open. “I remember!”

“What?” Roman exclaimed. Virgil just gaped.

“I mean, kind of. It’s fading away now.” Patton said, frowning in an attempt to hold on to the rapidly slipping memories. “I didn’t think it was possible to like you even more, Virgil,” he said, trying to make a joke.

Based on Virgil’s wry face, he didn’t find it very funny. 

Patton’s frown deepened. “I think... “ he sighed. “I think it’s gone now. I kinda remember a little bit of feelings, but nothing else. Still, that’s a really good job, Virgil!”

Roman slung an arm over Virgil’s shoulders. “You’re getting it, shortstop!”

Virgil had a tiny smile. “You think?”

“Yeah! This is a big step, kiddo!” Patton said warmly.

“I vote bonfire!” Roman said loudly. “Tonight we feast on marshmallows!”

“Yeah!” Patton said, pumping his fist up in the air.

They both looked at Virgil. “That could be cool. I haven't really been to a bonfire before.”

Roman gasped as if it was a personal affront to his character. “Never? In all the eighteen years of your life you’ve never been to a bonfire?”

Virgil shook his head. 

“We’ll have to build a really big one, then!” Patton said excitedly.

  * •^*^••



Remy was bored. Maybe he would go out. Probably once Emile got back. Maybe he’d hang around for dinner, but after that he was going out.

And then his phone rang. It was Emile. What, did he forget his wallet?

“Hey, babe, what’s--”

“Remy! I need you!” Emile was yelling, and sounded downright panicked. 

Remy was running immediately. “Where are you?” 

“The store still. Come quick!”

Remy raced to the store, shoving his phone into his pocket without bothering to hang up. He found Emile outside, with blood running from his nose. “Emile!”

Emile waved him away. “Not me, the hunter went and he’s chasing a vampire.”

Remy growled. He  _ wanted  _ to check on Emile, but he knew Emile would be mad at him for days, if not longer if he didn’t go save this other vampire. 

The scent of the hunter was still strong in the air, and it didn’t take long to find him. Remy swung for the back of his head, knocking him out and continuing on to find the vampire. The vampire also was painfully obvious, running without any super speed, and still cuffed, muzzled, and even leashed. Remy caught him around the waist, and the vampire let out a terrified scream.

“Hush.” Remy commanded. “You’ll get snatched up by every hunter in the area running around like this.”

The vampire was shaking and blubbering, but stopped fighting against him and quieted down. Remy got rid of the various restraints, and the vampire nearly dropped to the ground. 

“Look, I get you’re tired, and I get you’re scared, but you’re practically asking to get picked up, gurl. Calm down. Don’t run when you see a hunter, and try to act like a human, yeah?”

The vampire nodded shakily. 

“Great. I’ll drop these cuffs off somewhere away from here.” Remy turned to leave, but stopped and turned back. “You have a phone?”

“I--I had one. N-not anymore.”

Remy rolled his eyes. He didn’t have anything to write on either. 

“Look, here’s my number,” he said, showing the vampire on his phone. “If you get desperate, call me.”

The vampire nodded. 

“You got it?”

Another nod.

“Cool. See you around.”

Remy took the various hunter supplies and dropped them off behind the store. And then he finally got back to Emile, who was waiting in the car in the parking lot, holding a tissue to his nose.

“What happened, Em?”

Emile shrugged. “There was a hunter, and you know I can’t stand what they do, but it’s just getting worse and worse. I couldn’t do nothing.”

Remy scoffed. “You never could do nothing.”

Emile gave him a smile. That smile in particular never was fair, that ‘you know you love me’ smile. 

Remy shook his head, grabbing Emile in a hug. “You’ve got to stop scaring me, Emile.”

Emile was silent a moment. Then he spoke, quietly, and very seriously. “I don’t know if I can. Everything keeps getting worse, and I won’t just sit and watch it happen in front of me.”

“I know. You just have to stay safe.”

Emile nodded. “Thanks for always rescuing me.”

Remy chuckled. “Someone’s gotta do it. It’d be a crime to leave someone as sweet as you unrescued.”

  * •^*^••



“He said he was a therapist, that his name was Emile.”

The doctor nodded, checking his head carefully. 

“Hey, wait,” the next guy waiting said. “Wasn’t one of those wanted people called Emile?”

“The ones that took down Liam Hart? Nah, this guy couldn’t have done that if he tried. He was just one of those bleeding-heart types.”

“Eh, Imma check anyway.”

“Yeah, sure, knock yourself out.”

  
  
  



	27. Chapter 27

Remus had wandered off, for once having the tact to leave Thomas and Dee to have their conversation alone. 

Dee didn't like the look Thomas was fixing him with, but it was even worse that he was silent. Leaving Dee to say something first. 

"I can't say I'm sorry," Dee said, his voice already a touch unsteady. 

"You can't? You thralled me, when I trusted you, and it's been, what, twelve hours? More?"

Dee swallowed. "It's been fourteen."

Thomas frowned. "And you can't say you're sorry? You know, I've told you, I wanted us to keep practicing until we had to leave. At this point, we ought to have moved on already."

Dee shook his head. He wanted to stick to his decision, but why did it have to feel so  _ awful _ ?

"Then what can you say? Surely you wouldn't do something like that and have nothing to say."

"I can't just let you do this to yourself. I can't, Thomas!" 

"But I chose it. I chose this myself, and you took my choice away from me." Thomas didn't even seem mad, just upset. Almost betrayed. And that hurt. 

Dee couldn't answer that. It was true. 

"And you know why I'm doing it," Thomas continued. "You know it's to help you get better at--"

"I can't possibly focus on getting better at thralling if I'm scared for you!" Dee exploded. "I-It's not nearly as important to me as it is to you. I do want to be able to protect you. I do. But I can't go hurting you to do it! It's-It's wrong!"

"It's not about me!" Thomas yelled back. "If we get caught, they aren't going to do anything more to me than jail. You have to be able to protect yourself!"

Dee wrapped his arms around himself. "I won't hurt you to help myself."

Thomas finally softened. "Dee, you haven't hurt me. You've always been very careful."

"I have!" Dee said, shutting his eyes tight. "You're exhausting yourself. And it's because I'm thralling you. Even being careful, it tires you, sometimes even hurts you, and I can't keep doing it. I-- I don't want to do it anymore."

Thomas set a hand on his shoulder, and Dee gripped his fingers into his arms. 

"I'm sorry," Thomas said.

Dee opened his eyes and looked up. 

Thomas looked away a bit. "I-- I thought I was only driving myself. But I haven't been. I'm sorry for scaring you, and for pushing you. I would very much like it if you'd keep trying, but it'll be your decision, and if we do it, we'll take it slower. Ok?"

Tears welled up in Dee's eyes. "That- yeah, it sounds way better. Thank you."

"Can I hug you?"

Dee immediately leaned in to Thomas. He was safe. He'd always been safe. Thomas hugged him close, and his fears faded away. 

"I'm sorry," Dee said. "I won't thrall you-- er, not for me. I mean, I won't make you do things you don't want to. I promise."

Thomas rubbed a hand over his back. "I know you wouldn't. But thank you for the promise."

  * •^*^••



Logan waited impatiently at the door for Remy and Emile to come back. He’d already packed up the essentials, and was now just trying, and failing, to believe the best. 

Finally they drove up, and got out of the car, immediately noticing his stance. 

“What happened?” Logan demanded. 

“Why, what’s wrong?” Emile asked. 

“The hunters know we’re, or at least that you’re in this town. Emile, there’s a shoot on sight order for us!”

Emile paled, and Remy bristled, stepping in front of him. “Look, if we’ve got to leave, just say so. You don’t get to yell at Emile.”

Logan clenched his jaw. “Yes. We have to leave.”

Remy nodded, picking up the bags and loading them into the back of the car. 

They all got in, and drove away, in a rather tense silence. 

“So what did happen?” Logan asked, trying to keep his tone even and non-accusatory. 

“I don’t really know. Nothing was odd, except…. oh.”

“Oh? What oh?”

“I did tell a hunter my name yesterday.”

“You did what?” Both Logan and Remy said in sync. 

“If you had told me, I would’ve done more than knock him out!” Remy said. 

“Wait, what happened with a hunter?” Logan asked. 

“Well, he was hurting a vampire, and humiliating them. I just couldn’t leave them alone like that!”

“But why would you give the hunter your name?!” Logan yelled, forgetting his forced calm. 

If Remy hadn’t been driving he surely would’ve gotten back at Logan, but as it was, he growled out a ‘watch it, Logan.’

Logan took in a breath. “I apologize for my tone. Why would you give a hunter your name?”

Emile shrugged. “It’s what I always do, introduce myself. I was hoping to distract him, and it worked. I just didn’t consider that he was a hunter.”

Logan nodded. It wasn’t a  _ good  _ reason, but it was at least understandable. 

“I just hope we get far enough away soon enough to be safe,” Logan said. 

Emile wilted, and Remy glared at him through the rear view mirror. 

  * •^*^••



“Hello?” Thomas said. 

_ “Hello, Thomas.”  _ Logan replied.  _ “Hunters have discovered our location, and we are moving. I do not believe that they know where you are, but as a precaution please be more careful for the next few days.” _

“Oh. Yeah, of course I will. Thanks. Keep me updated, ok?”

_ “Certainly. I will be in contact sometime this evening.” _

“Yeah, ok. Be safe.”

Logan hung up the phone. 

“What was that?” Dee asked. 

“Hunters found where Logan and them were staying. They’re moving, but I don’t think they’re being followed or anything. Logan seemed pretty calm.”

Dee hummed thoughtfully. “Should we move on from here?”

Thomas looked around the campsite. “Eh, I don’t think there’s anyone even near here. I think we’re safer here than in the car.”

  * •^*^••



“They found you?!” Patton suddenly said, very loudly. 

Virgil frowned in concern. It was Logan calling. That couldn’t mean anything good. 

Patton talked for a while longer before calming down. Finally he hung up. 

“What happened?” Virgil asked. 

“Hunters found out where they were staying, so they have to move. He said we should be extra careful for a while.”

Virgil nodded. “Does that mean we’re postponing the bonfire again?”

“Nah,” Roman said. “We keep this little stove cooking half the time anyway, we don’t have to worry about smoke. Anyone watching knows that  _ somebody’s  _ up here. We just have to act natural.”

Virgil nodded. He was glad that they didn’t have to postpone it again. Just before they’d been ready to start yesterday, it had started raining. Things were still damp, but he was hoping they’d be able to start the fire tonight. 

  * •^*^••



Liam looked at the leads he had, spread out in front of him. He touched the first paper. 

“My son is traveling with vampires, and other humans, including his friends. He’s likely being kept either trapped or thralled at all times, since I haven’t had any contact from him. His friends? Hopefully thralled. If somehow they’re doing this of their free will? Well, let’s just say they’d better not be.” 

Liam pushed one of the papers aside. “So there’s Pat, two friends, possibly two more humans, and a load of vampires.”

He frowned at a map. “But there’s no way they’re all in a group. We’ve been too careful for a group that large to get anywhere. It’s also possible that they’ve left the state, possibly in different directions.”

He picked up a folder, but didn’t open it. “There’s an old one with them, called Remy, who’s given us no end of trouble in the past. One of our men tried to track it with trackers in the guns, badges, and other supplies of the men he sent out to confront him. Remy took several of the trackers with it, but when examined, the places they were left did not appear to be his home. Im going to count this as a dead end.”

Liam sighed. “And Patton’s phone was left behind, so I can’t track him with that.”

He turned to his laptop, where a little dot was moving along a map. “Emile, one of the humans with them, has been reported to be in this town. I sent some men, but the town is far out of my jurisdiction, and judging on their previous actions, these vampires are too smart to stay in one place long.”

Liam groaned. “I need another lead! How can there be so few?! Come on, Pat. Find a way to call me. You’re a smart kid. Easily smarter than these vampires.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	28. Chapter 28

Roman ran into the living room when he heard Patton screech. “It’s what?!”

“What is?” Roman demanded. 

Patton shushed him, gesturing emphatically at the tv screen. 

_ “As according to even the lowest reports,”  _ the lady was saying _. “95% of the vampires have been rounded up now. There will still be people available to take your calls if you suspect you’ve seen a vampire, and we highly encourage you to keep turning them in. We will still be here to serve you, just in a less invasive manner.” _

“What’s going on?” Roman whispered. 

“She said the sweep is over.” Patton whispered back, his eyes fixed on the screen. 

“It’s what?!”

“Shh!”

_ In the next weeks, we’ll be working on transitioning the vampires into controlled work environments. They will be in public, but carefully controlled. There is no reason for fear if you should see them. However, we would ask that you refrain from bothering the handlers, as that increases the risk, however slightly.  _

  * •^*^••



“They’re what?!” Dee said, turning the radio up. 

_ “Yes, we can confirm that the sweep is over. The vampires of course will still be arrested if they are discovered, but there will be no more searching of homes without warrants.” _

_ “Well, that’s good.”  _ The other person on the radio program said.  _ “As much as I’m glad to have the vampires gone, it’s very disconcerting to have people storming into your house.” _

_ “Yes, that is a large part of why the sweep has officially ended. Individuals will have to take more responsibility to hand in the remaining hidden vampires, but this way we can have back our freedoms and privacy.” _

Dee looked over at Thomas, who was just as wide-eyed. “Can we…?”

“Not home, they know us there. But we can make a new home.”

Dee was just as fine with a new home as with the old one. He nodded enthusiastically. 

  * •^*^••



Liam searched the house. According to reports from the neighbors, Logan had been seen here, but no sign of Patton, and there were only three people staying in the house. 

So Patton and the vampire that held him under thrall were somewhere else, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t clues. However, everything he saw was merely personal items. And they didn’t seem to match the supposed inhabitants. Perhaps they’d managed to kick out the original inhabitants. Some vampires did seem to have hypnotic powers. 

He kept searching, letting out a slight growl under his breath in frustration, and ignoring the looks his men were giving each other. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil hadn’t had a phone in ages. He had… not really friends, just some nice people online he used to talk to sometimes, and he wondered how they were doing. 

Between the three of them, they had Roman’s phone and a burner phone that couldn’t do much other than call. 

Part of it was that he was bored, part of it was that he was just thinking about old times, and part was just the relief of the sweep being over. But he wanted to try talking to his fr-- acquaintances, really, and it had been at least a year since he’d talked to any of them, they probably were even less than that now. But still. 

“Um… Roman?”

“Hmm?” Roman looked up from the fire. That had been his way of not getting bored, keeping the fire going. Between cutting work and tending the fire almost constantly, it seemed to be working for him. 

“Can I…” It felt weird… bad… asking for something as personal and valued as a phone. “CanIborrowyourphoneIswearI’lltakecareofit--”

“Woah, slow down, you want my phone?”

Virgil hesitated, but nodded. 

“Yeah, sure. It’s plugged in on the kitchen counter. We’ll do the bonfire in an hour or so, but you can have it till then.”

Virgil was very surprised that Roman would just let him have it, without asking why or anything. “Thanks.”

“Oh, wait, you’ll need a password. Uh… I don’t, really want to tell you, it’s kinda personal, but if you bring it here I’ll type it in.”

Virgil was even more surprised, but the password was quickly typed in and Roman handed him the phone back, cracking a joke about not downloading any viruses. 

Virgil waited a long few minutes, sitting up on the kitchen counter and just staring at the home screen. It had a picture of Roman, Patton, and Logan, with Roman and Patton squishing Logan into a group hug. He felt a pang of guilt that he was the one here with them, instead of Logan. 

And then he got over his anxiety enough to sign in to tumblr. Yeah, yeah, he knew it was technically ‘dead’, but that didn’t matter. He could be strange there, and instead of picking at him or just leaving him alone, everyone else was pretty strange there too.

He wasn’t terribly surprised to see 99+ notifications, since he hadn’t checked it in a year or two, but he was surprised to see that so many of them were mentions and direct messages. He nearly broke down in tears seeing how concerned people had been for him. They’d left kind messages, ‘for whenever he came back’, and they’d started chains of ‘loving V hours’. One of his old friends had sent him a message every week, even if it was something like ‘hey, come back, idiot, we miss you’. 

So he messaged them first. 

_ Ummm….. I’m back? _

They didn’t respond immediately, probably didn’t have notifications on, or busy or something, and Virgil started scrolling through his dash. The tears swimming around in his eyes fell when he saw the post. It was someone advocating for the vampires. Saying that, no matter what they’d done, they didn’t deserve to be massacred. Virgil went to the blog, and saw that she was getting a lot of hate, but was making and reblogging things supporting the vampires, and ‘conspiracy theories’ about how they were treated that he knew to be true. He followed immediately. He kept scrolling, and found a few people agreeing with her, a very few supporting and sharing information around. 

He’d always been interested in conspiracy theories, in cryptids, he wouldn’t be giving himself away to reblog some of these. 

A fwip sound made him jump and then smile. 

**_V!!!!!!!!! Where’ve you been!!!!!!????????_ **

Virgil smiled wide.  _ Lost my phone, kicked out of home, you know, all the stuff you warned me about. It’s really nice to hear from you. _

**_Nice to hear from me???? Do you have any IDEA how nice it is to hear from YOU??????!!!!_ **

_ XD I’m fine.  _

**_Did you really get kicked out of your home?!?_ **

_ Lol, kinda. I’m staying with some nice people though. They’re even letting me use their phone. _

**_That’s good, but what happened????!!!_ **

Virgil thought about it. How much could he say? They didn’t know where he lived, and he didn’t even live there anymore. They knew his full first name, but not his last name. He’d… probably be safe talking to them. He always had been, when he told them about other things.

**_I saw the things you’ve been reblogging. Man, things are crazy. Are you doing alright with it all?? You didn’t have police bothering you or anything, right?_ **

_ It’s a long story.  _

**_You think after this whole time that I’m not dying to hear long stories????!!!! I haven’t heard from you in ages! I want to know everything!_ **

_ Well, you know about my dad, and all that…. _

**_He’s an abusive douchebag, yes._ **

Virgil had to give a small smile at that. They’d been the first person to call his dad abusive, and they’d helped him realize it too. 

_ So… Dad was also a vampire… _

**_Not surprising, all things considered. Did he hurt you?????_ **

_ You remember that one lady I told you about? _

**_The creepy fae lady? Did. Your Dad. Hurt you? I will find you and bust his face in, V, I swear._ **

_ I mean… kinda? Well, I guess I can’t say kinda. So he’s been drinking from me my whole life, and he went… way too far one time. The lady found me, oh, and she’s a vampire too, and she turned me to try and save my life. I went to live with her for a long time. _

There was a long wait, and then a meme of John Mulaney, “Now we don’t have time to unpack all of that.”

**_So… you’re a vampire now?_ **

_ Yeah. _

**_And you’re safe. No police?_ **

_ At the moment. _

**_Ok, I’m gonna need a bit to adjust to the whole you’re a vampire thing, but before that-- At. The. Moment???? Who hurt you now????!!!?_ **

There came the tears again. It was far too easy to cry right now. But to have his friend accept him so readily… and still ready to rail at people who would hurt him?! It was just a lot. More than a lot, and it made him so happy. 

**_And don’t you dare say long story! Tell me what happened!_ **

_ I got caught by hunters, before the sweep. _

Another meme, “Now we aren’t just gonna skim past this like you didn’t just say what you just said.”

  1. **_Please. Slow down and tell me what actually happened. You’re hitting me with some big revelations, and I need some details in between those._**



Virgil went back to the beginning, writing out his story, and just avoiding names and places, just in case. It wasn’t easy, and by the end he was fighting back tears again. His friend wasn’t, they kept sending sobbing faces, and alternately saying how sorry they were that something like this would happen and raging against the people that had done it. 

**_V, you don’t have to do this, but I think you should write that down. Make a post of it. I’ve seen the theories I don’t even know how many times, but I never got close to guessing how true they were. You… you really, really, don’t have to, and definitely don’t put your face in them, but taking pictures of the scars would really make it a lot more real to people._ **

_ Would it do any good? _

**_I think it could do worlds of good. I’ve never heard things like this. NEVER. I absolutely believe you, and I think other people would too. Use a fake name, make a new blog, heck, make a whole new account, you don’t want people tracing this. But I really think you should do it._ **

Virgil hesitated again. He didn’t think he could take hate online.

**_I’ll help you, and I’ll get some other people too, if you don’t mind me telling them your story. I won’t tell them your name or anything._ **

_ You think… an ask blog? In case people have questions? _

**_Yes. That’s a brilliant idea._ **

_ I won’t have a phone all the time… _

**_I’ll help run it, and answer as best as I can._ **

_ It’s… It’s so nice to have you here, and here for me.  _

**_Always, V._ **

  * •^*^••



Virgil was quiet during the bonfire, but it was the thinking kind of quiet, not the anxious kind, which helped Patton feel better about it. They’d managed to get marshmallows, and to roast them. Virgil had hoped he could eat just one without problems, which, well, didn’t work out, but after that he ate a whole lot of them, ‘just to spite his body’.

They ended up laying on blankets near the fire, looking up through the leaves at the few stars they could see. 

“Thanks for keeping me with you,” Virgil said. “I’ve… I’ve been thinking about the past, and if you’d sent me back, or…” his voice strangled a bit. “Or kept me in that coffin…”

“Virgil, I’m so, so glad that you’re here with us now.” Patton said. “I wouldn’t be the same person I am without you. If… Looking back on it, the very idea of leaving you there makes me sick.”

“You’re an important kid, and I’m glad we have you,” Roman said. 

Virgil just nodded silently, curling in on himself a little. 

Patton locked eyes with Roman, and they each had the same idea, moving to Virgil’s blanket and sandwiching him between them. There was no protest from Virgil, and he even grabbed their hands, squeezing silently. 

Patton gave a soft squeeze back. “We’re here now, and we have you, and we won’t let go.”

“No, we won’t.” Roman echoed.

“Thank you,” Virgil said, his voice rather choked up, but a watery smile on his face.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to a family emergency, Coffin will have to go on hiatus. It will be at least two weeks, though possibly more. 
> 
> I can try to get ahead with the writing, but it is very possible that I won’t be able to, so I won’t be making any promises about when I can come back.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! 
> 
> The plan is, this chapter, a chapter next Wednesday, a break for two weeks, and the back to regular posting!

Logan was very surprised to hear Virgil’s voice when he picked up the phone. 

“Hi, Logan.”

“Virgil. Good morning. I trust everything is going well with you?”

“Mmhmm. Um… I had an idea, and I talked with Patton and Roman, and they said I should talk with you about it.”

“Yes?”

“What if… um, if I made some social media accounts? Told my story. I… sort of told someone, and they said that they hadn’t heard of things from a vampire’s side before. I was just hoping… maybe it could help, if people knew.”

Logan considered, taking a long breath. “Alright. Putting aside the dangers from already telling someone, we would have to get you a new phone, a vpn, and a fake email address and ID, to begin with. I believe that this idea has merit, but we wouldn’t be able to begin immediately.”

There was a pause. “Really?”

There was a lot of emotion in that voice, not something easily unpacked by Logan ever, much less over a phone. “Yes. I think your idea is a very good one.”

“Thanks.” Virgil’s voice was still choked with emotion, and Logan hoped that it wasn’t a bad thing. 

“Why don’t you send me the details of what you’ve said already and where you’ve said it. I’ll try to be sure it’s as untraceable as possible, and I’ll help you set up for the other as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll send it to you. Thanks, Logan.”

“You’re very welcome, Virgil.”

As illogical as it was, Logan felt like he could almost hear a smile before Virgil hung up. 

“What happened?” Emile asked. 

Logan was relieved that Emile asked, especially in so light a tone. He’d seemed pretty upset earlier, and Logan knew that a lot of it was his fault, a point which was driven home by the glares Remy kept sending him. 

“Virgil wants to try making social media accounts to spread information from the vampire side of things.”

“Oh.” Emile nodded slowly. “Ohhhh, that could be a really good idea! Getting our side of things out to the public could change a lot!”

“Our?” Logan said.

“Yeah! As people trying to help vampires. If you watch TV, you’d never guess that anyone ever did it.”

Logan considered, and didn’t have to think long at all to realize that he’d never seen any stories about resistance to the sweep by humans, other than vague ‘infringing on freedoms and privacy’.”

“Can I help?” Emile asked.

“Ah, yes, of course. I’m sure that something like this would work best with more help.”

Emile pulled out his phone. “Virgil’s using Roman’s phone, right?”

“Yes, but you can’t post anything yet, not when it could be tracked.”

“I know, I’m just gonna talk with Virgil for a bit.”

  * •^*^••



**_Whoever has the phone, can you pass it to Virgil? -Emile :)_ **

Virgil blinked at the text. He hadn’t expected this so soon after talking with Logan. 

_ Hi, Emile. This is Virgil.  _ He wrote, and then erased the last bit, replacing it with  _ -Virgil  _ to match Emile’s.

**_Hi, Virgil! How’s it going? Logan told me you idea, and I really like it!_ **

**_*your_ **

_ Thanks.  _ Virgil wrote, and then his mind blanked. How was he ever supposed to answer questions online if he couldn’t even hold a half decent conversation with Emile?

**_So I was thinking, and you don’t have to go with this if you had an idea, but what if you chat with me for a bit and I can ask questions, and then we can write up a ‘big story’ type of thing that we can post later?_ **

_ Yeah, I like that. I wrote down a lot of it, but if you want to ask questions, that would be fine. _

**_You know, I think you’re really brave for doing this. Opening yourself up like this to help people._ **

Virgil didn’t know what to say to that. He felt both flattered and dumbfounded. Thankfully, Emile was texting again.

**_As far as questions, should we split them up by anything? Like pre-vampire/post-vampire? Or general vampire questions versus Virgil only questions?_ **

_ I don’t know. I’m not like most vampires, so I might give the wrong answers for the general questions. _

**_I’m sure all vampires are a bit different. Remy’s with me, and I can talk with him, but he’s going to have different answers too, since he was born a vampire. Also, he says ‘Hiya, babes.’_ **

_ Ok. We can try questions. Thanks for helping. (Should I say hi back to Remy?) _

**_You’re welcome! :) And yeah, if you want to, I’ll tell him whatever you say!_ **

_ Then Hi, Remy.  _ After a moment of thought, Virgil changed the period to an explanation point before sending the text. 

**_He says drink some coffee in honor of him. (But please don’t unless you really wanted to, he’s mostly joking) Anyway, first question! What name do you want to go by?_ **

Virgil hadn’t considered alternate names for a while. Probably V would be unsafe to use, or any other derivative of his name. 

_ What about Anxiety? _

**_Anything that makes you comfortable is fine. :)_ **

_ Ok. Thanks.  _

**_You’re welcome! ;) So, first question, how is a vampire made?_ **

_ A human on the brink of death can be turned, and… there’s something special about it, but I don’t know exactly what.  _ Virgil thought for a minute.  _ Maybe ask Remy? _

There was a bit of a gap before Emile texted back. 

**_Remy says that it’s instinctual, at least for him. That it feels similar to making a thrall at first, but then it changes as they become a vampire._ **

_ Ahh. Should I write that down? _

**_Logan’s been keeping notes, but thanks for offering! :) So next question, how and when were you turned?_ **

Virgil had to pause. He’d already told this story before, but it didn’t seem to make it any easier now. Especially when it seemed that Emile was reading the texts out loud, and both Logan and Remy would hear. But this was the way to help people, and he would probably get asked this question a lot.

_ It was about two years ago, my dad, who was a vampire, drank too much blood and then left me. I thought I was going to die, but then a different vampire I knew turned me and kept me with her.  _

**_Virgil, I’m very sorry that happened to you._ **

Virgil wished he could remember how to make the shrug emoji. He didn’t really know what to say. It certainly wasn’t pleasant to think about, but it was done now. He’d probably never see his dad again, so it wasn’t like it really mattered. 

_ Thanks. What’s the next question? _

There was a bit of a pause before Emile texted back.  **_Remy says let him know if you want him to, and he’ll go after your dad._ **

That actually made Virgil crack a smile. He didn’t want Remy trying to find his dad, but it was surprisingly nice to have that offer. 

“Hey, Virge, done with the phone yet?” Roman asked, peeking in through the door.

“Oh. Um… kind of, I mean, I finished the call but,” Virgil stammered. He really should’ve asked before just starting a whole new conversation.

“Nah, it’s fine. What’re you up to now?”

“Emile’s texting me.”

Roman grinned. “Tell him hi from me then, yeah?” Without even waiting for an answer he waved and left.

Virgil glanced back down at the phone. 

**_Second question: How much do vampires need to eat, and how often?_ **

_ Well, a quart once a month would probably be fine, but most vampires I’ve known preferred to have smaller meals more frequently, and a really big meal every few months. Also Roman says hi. _

**_Hi, Roman! And that’s interesting. Remy says he likes more than that, but that might be because he’s a born vampire. It would be interesting to have this conversation with Dee also._ **

_ Maybe Dee would want to help? _

**_He might! I’ll call him in a bit and see if he’s interested._ **

_ He might not though. I don’t think he likes talking about his past. _

**_And if he doesn’t, that’s fine. I’ll just ask. Ok! Question three: Do vampires actually go into blood-frenzies?_ **

_ It depends I think. Some vampires are half-crazy from the time they get turned, and I think they would. I never did. Though, if I haven’t eaten for a really long time, it gets hard to have humans near me. What about Remy? _

  * •^*^••



Logan was increasingly intrigued with the answers, especially getting the information from two such different sources, and in such a way that he believed it all to be true and grounded in experience.

“Ehh, I don’t know about frenzy,” Remy drawled. “And it’s different too, cause if you get too full it’s almost like a high, but too empty and that’ll really mess with your head, but in a very different way. I don’t know that I’ve ever been much more violent because of it though.”

Emile just nodded, typing away.

“Can you ask Virgil what the differences between human hunger and vampire hunger are?” Logan asked.

“Sure!” Emile said, typing again. “Oh, he says he’s never been that full, maybe it’s just a born vampire thing?”

Remy shook his head. “Nah, I’ve seen it on enough vampires. Poor kid.”

Emile got a worried frown as he nodded. 

“Em.” Remy said, more seriously. 

“Hmm?”

“Don’t offer to let him drink from you.”

“Why not?”

“You’re… sweeter, than most humans. Way more than hunters, certainly. It’s like having a really good espresso after cheap gas station coffee, and if he keeps drinking from hunters it’ll just make him want the other. Not fun all around.”

“Ahh, yeah, I think I get it. Poor Virgil.” Emile’s frown disappeared as the phone buzzed. “He says that it feels like human hunger, but it makes him get all jittery, and it gets to where he feels like he’s losing control over his body.”

Logan nodded, comparing Virgil’s explanation to how he’d acted when Logan had ‘tested’ him. It did make sense. 

“I’m asking him what the relationship between a vampire and their sire is like,” Emile said. 

“Mmm, well, I’ve never been on the other end,” Remy said, keeping his eyes on the road. “But it’s a little like a thrall. A lot weaker, but they’ll be all doe-eyed and lovey, especially if you want them to be. You can do a lot of forcing too, but not completely.”

“Virgil said it felt like she was his mom and dad mixed together.” Emile got a really sad look on his face. “No wonder he was so devastated that she was killed.”

Logan nodded. He hadn’t thought that the relationship would’ve been that strong, and he’d discounted Virgil’s grief about it the few times Virgil had spoken about it. He honestly was glad that Emile was the one asking, as Emile was consistently considerate about things like that, whereas anyone else would likely cause Virgil to clam up. 

“Would you ask him what sunlight feels like?” Logan asked. “It certainly doesn’t affect vampires the way it does in myth.”

“It stings,” Remy offered. “Hence the jacket and glasses. It’s manageable, but it’s better just not to.”

Emile stared at the phone for a bit before replying. “He says that it’s like the middle of summer, when you can feel the sun hitting your skin, and you just know that you’re going to be burnt despite the sunscreen, but all the time, and that the temperature is still whatever temperature it is.”

“That truly is interesting,” Logan mused, writing down both answers. “Would a vampire be injured by remaining in the sun for a length of time, or would it heal as quickly as other injuries seem to?”

“It depends. Sun-injuries, like silver injuries, only really heal if we have blood in our system. So a vampire held outside without eating probably would be hurt by it. Might even die.”

“Virgil says he doesn’t know, he hasn’t tried,” Emile piped up. 

Logan nodded seriously, writing it down.

  * •^*^••



Virgil’s mind was spinning. After just twelve questions he’d asked to save more for later. Even he hadn’t thought that long about vampires and how they worked. And he was a little annoyed that he only had half answers for so many of the questions. 

“Roman? I’m done with the phone now.”

Roman’s head popped up from the log at the table, and he shoved something underneath it as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“What are you doing with the log?” Virgil asked, holding out the phone.

“Uhhh…. I’ll tell you, but I won’t show you.”

“Why?” Virgil asked suspiciously. 

“I have a knife.”

Virgil took a step back. 

“Oh, no, wait!” Roman pleaded. “This is why I hid it, I don’t want you to feel threatened. I’d never, ever go near you with it. Give me a minute to put it away, and then I’ll show you what I’m doing.”

Virgil suddenly didn’t trust Roman enough to close his eyes. And he hated that he didn’t, because he  _ knew  _ that Roman wouldn’t hurt him, but he just couldn’t seem to believe it.

“Tell you what, just head back into the bedroom for just thirty more seconds so I can put it away.”

Virgil nodded, and backed into the bedroom so he didn’t have to turn around. Roman called him back only moments later. 

Roman had turned the log around, showing that part of it was all cut, and there was a vague shape in the middle. 

“It’s supposed to be a bird, but I really need something to look at to make it do right, which is why I came to see if you were done with the phone earlier.”

Virgil squinted. “Yeah. You definitely need a reference picture.”

Roman crossed his arms, his face more pouting than angry. “Oh, come on, it’s not  _ that  _ bad! And I'm not even half done yet.”

Virgil grinned. He had a sudden desire to try one himself. But he wasn’t certain that he could handle touching anything that was silvery, and he wasn’t sure he could sit near Roman doing it either. But he absolutely didn’t want to kick Roman off of his activity just to help him.

And at that moment Patton got back from grocery shopping. Virgil hid a smile at his fake mustache that didn’t suit him at all, and the baseball cap pulled down half over his face. 

“I also got pizza! And it’s probably still warm!” Patton said proudly.

“Aw, yes!” Roman cheered, racing outside to get the pizza.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s morning, not evening, but I’m posting anyway!

Liam paced back and forth. There had to be something. There  _ had  _ to!

And yet no clues. 

He had to be missing something. His anger blinding him again as it always did. He took a deep breath and let it slowly. He checked all his small bits of what might be clues, and still found nothing. They’d just driven off and left no signs. No sightings, no credit cards, nothing he could follow. 

But there  _ had  _ to be something. These weren’t practiced criminals, it was his son and his friends and some random vampires. 

Perhaps he was going about this the wrong way. Thinking from a human perspective. These were vampires kidnapping them, after all. They weren’t practiced criminals, they were vampires, and he’d have to know how a vampire would do this. 

Ok. That gave him a lead.

Liam drove to the closest holding center, and went down to where they were holding their strongest vampire. 

It glared at him from the moment he entered the room.

“I want to know how a vampire would find another vampire.”

“If they aren’t dead already,” the vampire spat.

“This one isn’t. How would you find a specific vampire if you only knew of it, you didn’t have a personal link to it?”

The vampire let out a tired laugh. “You hunters are all the same. You’re going to torture me no matter what I say. I’m not going to tell you how to get someone else into my position.”

Liam pulled a silver rod from his pocket, holding it just above the vampire’s neck. The vampire flinched, but then bared its teeth at him. “I’m not telling you anything.”

Liam pressed the rod down, dragging it across the vampire’s skin. 

By the time he had the information he wanted, he was almost impressed that the vampire had lasted so long. 

“Feed it,” he told the guard on the way out. “Don’t want it dying for nothing.”

He didn’t notice how very white the guard’s face was, or the many eyes fixed on his back with terrified looks. 

  * •^*^••



Now that they’d finally stopped, Logan was able to set up the online part of Virgil’s idea, but the harder problem would be getting him a new phone that couldn’t be traced. 

“I could always run it to him,” Remy offered. 

“There’s a great number of ways that that could go very wrong, and I’m sure I don’t have to start listing them for you to know that.” Logan said. 

“Remy’s very good at being careful though,” Emile said. 

“It’s hours away!” Logan protested. 

“You think I was driving because it’s faster? I could  _ carry  _ Emile and still beat you in that car.”

“Please don’t, though,” Emile said quickly. “Logan, Remy’s good at doing what he wants to. You can trust him to do it and be safe.”

“I’ll even be back before sunrise,” Remy boasted. 

“We don’t even have a phone to give him yet,” Logan said, but he knew that Remy could just take a phone from anyone and it’d take very little time for him to wipe it. 

“I’ll handle that,” Remy said, as Logan had expected he might. 

Logan still didn’t like it, but it might well work. “Ok.”

Remy grinned. “You two just have a nice night of sleep, you’ll hardly notice I’m gone.”

  * •^*^••



Dee couldn’t help looking longingly at some of the houses they passed. While he knew how to focus on a mission, especially one as important as the one they were doing, all he’d really wanted was to settle down somewhere and live calmly. 

If Thomas hadn’t already been a hunter when they met, and if it wouldn’t have sparked suspicion, he’d have suggested that Thomas get another job, any other job. Just something to be at home. 

Dee had lived enough lifetimes. Had enough adventure. Just for a few years, he’d love to stay in one place, nothing more to worry about than what he was going to make for dinner, and whether he wanted to try a new face mask or just go to bed early. 

It wasn’t possible. Not now. He was lucky enough to have Thomas. If only he could just keep him safe until this was all over. 

And then they’d passed through the little town. 

“It’s about half an hour till the campsite,” Thomas said. “Do you think you could find us something for dinner?”

“Like a bobcat!” Remus said excitedly from the backseat. 

Dee just grimaced. 

“Oh come on,  _ I’d  _ eat a bobcat!”

“I’d rather not,” Thomas said. 

Remus stuck his tongue out. “I don’t know why I came with you guys. You’re soooo boring!”

“No one said you had to stay,” Dee said under his breath. 

Remus pouted. “What, you don’t like me anymore?”

Dee rolled his eyes. He had plenty of reasons not to like Remus, but he knew that his problem at the moment was just being grumpy and tired. And that it wouldn’t get better for a while. It wasn’t sleep he needed, unless that sleep lasted at least a fortnight. 

His attention was caught then by the phone dinging. It was a text from Remy. 

_ Virgey had a good idea, and I’m bringing it to you. Where are you exactly? _

Dee texted him the location of the campsite. 

Remus’s suggestions got more and more disgusting the longer they tried to ignore him, and Dee was glad when they arrived, and Remus could run off and spend some of that energy doing something else. 

Remy arrived shortly after, dropped off a phone, and refused to stay. 

Dee went through the motions of setting up camp, just feeling more and more tired. It was only after he was sure that Thomas was asleep that he let his wish out, letting it seep into the open air. 

“I just want to go home.”

  * •^*^••



It was the middle of the night when the loud knock startled them all awake. 

Patton grabbed his glasses, and looked over at Virgil, who was curled into a terrified ball at the foot of his bed, eyes still blurry from sleep. 

He heard footsteps as Roman went to the door. 

It was a very tense few moments before they heard Roman call. “It’s just Remy, it’s alright.”

Patton let out a long breath. He got up, and Virgil followed him out of the room, gripping a fistful of the back of his shirt. 

“Hey!” Remy said, far too boisterous for the time of night. “How’s the babiest vampire doing?”

Virgil glared at him. 

“You really should’ve warned us first,” Roman said, and then yawned loudly. 

“Well, I did, but you know who has their phone on silent? You do.”

Roman frowned, but then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Anyway, I have a phone for Virgil, and in the morning I’ll have Logan text you with everything you’ll need to start up your idea. Oh, and I gave Dee one too, here’s his number.”

Virgil accepted the phone. “Thanks.”

Remy grinned. “Well, I promised I’d be back early, so I’ve got to go. Text me, babes!”

And then he was gone. 

“At least it was just Remy,” Patton said, looping an arm over Virgil’s shoulders. 

He felt the shudder before Virgil said, “Yeah.” 

“Alright, back to bed. We can set up the phone in the morning.” Roman said, herding them back to their rooms. 

It didn’t surprise Patton at all when Virgil had nightmares a few hours later, and he just crawled in his bed, being as soothing as he could be until Virgil fell back asleep.

  * •^*^••



Virgil had a whole first message written up, and he spent the morning logging into social media accounts under different names, and posting that first message on all of them. There was a lot of chatting with Logan, and a little with Dee, but then it was all set. He’d just have to wait and see how people reacted to it. 

It wasn’t long at all before the first message came. It was anonymous, but Virgil looked at it immediately. 

_ You’re right. I took a job helping the hunters cause I thought it would be fun. Dangerous. Helping keep people safe. It’s not.  _

_ They’re all terrified, and hurting, and they cry. I don’t know that I can stand to hear the crying anymore. I have to stay for three months because of the contract I signed, but the minute I can I’m getting out.  _

_ I’d let the vampires out too, but I’m absolutely terrified that the hunters would do the same things to me. I just want to get out.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There won’t be a chapter the next two weeks, but after that I hope to be back to regular posting!


	31. Chapter 31

The messages came flooding in. Virgil didn’t even have to write anything else of his own for a while. It seemed that with an outlet for it there were a number of people with stories to tell. He just took the messages and posted them across all the platforms, shocked at the views and follows he was getting so quickly. 

Of course, as the day went on, the ratio of hate to stories kept growing, and Virgil grimaced going through the inboxes. 

And then his pages were reported, and shut down suddenly. 

Virgil swallowed heavily. Was it really over? Just like that?

He called Logan. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Logan.”

“Ahh, Virgil. How is everything going? I was about to look.”

“Not… not so great. It was really good for a while, I got nearly five hundred followers and it’s just been a morning, but then I got reported and now I can’t do anything anymore.”

“Oh. No, I anticipated this possibility. I’ll make you new accounts. You may have to restart a few times, but you certainly can continue with this.”

Virgil let out a sigh, the weight of failure mostly leaving him. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. It will take me perhaps an hour to create the new accounts. In the meantime, perhaps you would consider making some photographic or video content.”

“Like what?”

There was an awkward pause. “If you feel up to it, I believe pictures of your scars, or a video in which you describe how you came to have them might be particularly moving.”

Virgil's brain flashed images and sensations at him, making him a bit dizzy. “... yeah. Yeah, I can see that.”

“Virgil, if you are uncomfortable with the idea—“

“No, I can do it.” Virgil interrupted. 

“Truly, I do not want to pressure you into something you would rather not do.”

Virgil smiled slightly, even though Logan wasn’t there to see it. “Thank you. I’ll just try. I’m sure if I take it too far Patton will stop me.”

“That seems reasonable. I’ll work on your new accounts, please call or text me if you need anything else.”

“I will, thanks. Bye.”

Even though he’d just told Logan that Patton would be sure to make him stop if he needed, he didn’t think he wanted Patton to help. At least not so directly. It was going to be hard enough, and if Patton was there and all teary he wasn’t sure he could make it. 

So he went to find Roman. 

Roman very quickly hid what had to be a knife again, as he had the log in front of him. “Did you need something, Tall, Dark, and Emo?”

Virgil fidgeted awkwardly. He didn’t want to bother Roman, really, he’d just probably need someone there, if only to hold the camera and be supportive. 

“Um… I was going to make a video? Of— scars. And I was wondering if you’d want to help.”

“Yeah, of course I’ll help. Is this for the internet?”

Virgil nodded. 

“Ok, then we’ll probably want to hang up sheets around you. If they can tell we’re in a cabin that wouldn’t be good.”

Virgil nodded again, letting out a long breath. It was nice not to have to just jump into it, even though he was the one deciding to actually make the video. 

“Should I be covered in a sheet?” Virgil asked. “So they don’t recognize my clothes?”

Roman snorted. “No you’re— I see where you’re going with that, but if it looks like you’re naked under a sheet that would be an entirely different kind of video.”

Virgil realized the implications a second later, blushing hotly. It was strange, almost, blushing. He hadn’t been able to for so long— though it hadn’t even really been all that long. But it still felt a bit foreign to him now. 

There was a little more sheet arranging before Virgil sat down and Roman sat in front of him, holding the phone. 

“Alright, now we can clip out anything you want,” Roman said. “So if you say something, and you don’t like it, or if you stumble over your words, don’t worry, just do it over again and we can clip that bit out.”

Virgil nodded, his breathing speeding up as he got more and more nervous. “Ok… you can turn the camera on now.”

“It’s been on, Stormcloud. Just explain it like you’re explaining to me. Nothing fancy.”

Virgil nodded, clenching his jaw slightly. “Ok. Um…”

He rolled up his sleeves a little, showing off the marks the cuffs had left. “These are… from the coffin.” His voice was shaking and he wasn’t sure he could really do this. 

“It’s alright. Why don’t you tell me what the coffin is?”

Virgil pressed his lips together, tears starting to well up. “It’s— it’s a coffin. But it has silver cuffs in it. It’s so— it’s cause if it was normal I could’ve— I might have been able to break out. But the silver hurts so bad— it’s to-to much to fight against and I—“ his voice broke and he stopped, tears now running down his face. 

“Do you want to be done?” Roman asked, his voice soft and non-judgmental. 

Virgil sniffed and nodded, rubbing at his face with his sleeves. “Sorry.”

“No, hey, you did just fine. That was very hard for you, and you did just fine.”

Virgil just nodded, not looking up. 

“Do you want a hug?” Roman asked. 

Virgil nodded again miserably, trying to stop from crying and failing dismally, especially when Roman wrapped him up and held him close. 

There was footsteps, that quickened as they got closer, and then Patton was kneeling beside them, his hand rubbing soft circles on Virgil’s back. “Ohhh, baby, what happened?”

Virgil wasn’t sure that he liked being called baby, but he could recognize the attempt at comfort and glanced up at Roman, pleading with his eyes for Roman to tell it. 

“We were trying to make a video explaining his scars,” Roman said simply. 

“Ohhhhh,” Patton said, joining in the hug. 

They let him go before the hug could become stifling, and Patton suggested that they do something like a card game for a while. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas sighed heavily, glad that both Dee and Remus were off doing something and couldn’t hear him. He knew Dee was tired, and he was also tired. But he was torn. He wanted to help still, not just take a break, even though a large part of his body and mind was constantly begging him to just stop for a while. 

And then his phone rang, startling him nearly out of his camping chair. He hadn’t expected to have service, but apparently he did. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Thomas!” Emile said cheerfully. “Just checking in to see how you’re doing.”

Thomas froze, his mouth already midway to saying ‘fine’. “To be honest, I’m really tired.”

“I imagine. You three had the most exhausting job.”

Thomas nodded, sighing. “Yeah. They’re out now doing part of it.”

“You’re doing a good job. Logan’s been tracking all your little distractions, and sometimes bigger distractions.” Emile chuckled. “No one’s gone near Virgil.”

“That’s good,” Thomas said. 

“I think… though this would have to be discussed, that you can take it easier now. I’m sure Remy would clear out a house for you to stay in for a few weeks.”

“Thanks,” Thomas said. And he really was genuinely appreciative, but it just made him more aware that his own house was standing empty, and would stay that way. Bills unpaid. He would never be Thomas Sanders anymore, not officially, unless he wanted to be arrested not only for helping vampires but also for not paying all the things he was supposed to be. 

“It’ll get better someday,” Emile said gently. “And we can hold out until then together.”

Thomas nodded, humming his agreement. 

“Do you want me to just stay on the line for a while?”

“Yes,” Thomas said, surprised to find that his voice was wobbling slightly. “Can you just… talk about something? Something not this?”

“Sure I can. Have you ever heard of finger-knitting?”

Emile stayed on the phone, talking about his experiments with finger knitting for a solid half-hour until Dee and Remus got back. Thomas handed off the phone to Dee, who probably also needed a bit of a talk with someone that had it all together still. 

“Hey, Remus.”

Remus peeked up immediately upon being given attention. 

“Do you wanna try sparring? You’d have to go waaay easy on me, but—“

“That sounds awesome!” Remus said, tackling Thomas almost immediately. 

Thomas fought to get out, and Remus was clearly having the time of his life, grinning wildly and pushing Thomas around. There was no holding back on Thomas’s end, growling and thrashing and hitting. 

“Oh yeah, getting all the frustration out!” Remus crowed, not even bothering to dodge most of the time, just wrestling Thomas down and letting him fight his way back up. 

Finally Thomas was done, and bone-tired. He dropped onto his sleeping bag despite it being only afternoon and fell into a dreamless sleep. 

  * •^*^••



Emile had been on the phone for the last hour, which meant, very unfortunately, that Remy was watching over Logan’s shoulder the entire time he was setting up Virgil’s new accounts and then still while he edited the video and prepared it for posting. 

“Poor kid,” Remy murmured. 

That, at least, Logan could agree with, nodding slightly as he clipped the video down to the essential part and put a black bar in where Virgil’s head had dropped too low and part of his face could be seen. 

“Will you want me and Dee and Remus to make these too?”

“Quite frankly, it is up to you,” Logan replied. “If you think your story would be helpful, and you are willing, then by all means please do.”

He posted the video around, carefully covering any tracks he may have left, and was not surprised to see it quickly gain traction. He considered himself to be reasonably skilled at creating ‘clickbait’ titles, and clearly that skill was paying off now. 

And then came the comments. They seemed split, roughly a third expressing sympathy towards Virgil, and two thirds disbelief in the validity of the video, thinking it to be acting. 

The video was spreading quickly, more quickly than Logan would’ve guessed. 

Remy whistled lowly. “If I’d’ve known this was all it took I would’ve been famous.”

“The current climate is a large part of why, as well as the fact that I’ve classified this video as an ad, which gives it a further initial reach.”

Remy snorted. “Ad for what?”

Logan shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Clicking the link merely leads to a webpage playing the video.”

“And you set all this up today?”

“Last night as well, but yes. I’m…” Logan found himself nearly blushing. “I’ve always been reasonably skilled with computers, more the internet aspect than the hardware, but I’ve never had much of an outlet for using that skill.”

“Damn, you with computers and Roman with his acting, being hunters really took a lot from you didn’t it?”

Logan was taken aback. “I… suppose it did. I hadn’t considered that.”

Remy slapped him on the back. “Well now you get that back. Oh! Maybe when all this settles you can help Roman get famous.”

Logan blinked, his mind whirring so fast he thought he might get dizzy. He could’ve. He could’ve this whole time. How had he never…? How had he seriously not considered that?

  
  


  * •^*^••



“Sir?”

Liam bristled. He’d asked not to be bothered. It was an extremely frustrating moment for him, as he’d finally followed the trail to a house, spending many resources, as it wasn’t a simple trail to follow, but it was the house that the vampire had lived in  _ before  _ they’d first captured it. 

“What do you want?” He bit out. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, sir. There’s a video, and I was asked to be sure you had seen it. It’s of a vampire?”

Liam growled low in his throat. “I swear, if this is another dead end!” He snatched the phone out of the man’s hand. 

The vampire in the video was shaking and sniveling, but more importantly, the scars on its arms were very familiar to Liam. This was the one. 

“Have this traced. Now!”

The man jumped into action, taking his phone back and running off with it. 

He’d better have some actually  _ useful  _ information by tomorrow or he was going to explode. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully regular updates from here on out! :D


	32. Chapter 32

_ I actually had a lot of friends that became hunters, or at least that’s what they said. They also said I was being a wimp, but anyway. They locked me in a room with a vampire once. But it… no,  _ **_she_ ** _ didn’t attack me. Didn’t even try to. Her eyes were all red and everything, but she just left me alone. Anyway. I just agree with you, the hunters aren’t all good. And they aren’t right about everything.  _

_ — _

_ That happened to me too! What is it, some kind of initiation? Or I guess you weren’t a hunter, so maybe not. But the vampire just asked if he could have some blood, which creeped me out, but I said yes cause I thought he might still attack me if I said no. And it actually doesn’t hurt??? And I’m fine??? It’s really not as bad as they keep saying.  _

_ — _

_ That is NOT how it goes! I don’t know what you people are making up stories for, but I’ve been attacked just for walking in the wrong place! And then I was under some kind of mind control, forced to do whatever it wanted me to for whatever sick reason.  _

_ — _

_ Mind control??? They can’t do mind control, you must’ve been high or something.  _

_ — _

_ You know, once I saw a baby vampire. Or well, a kid. It was holding onto some lady’s hand, as if it was a human, but it’s eyes were glowing, so it was obvious anyway.  _

_ — _

_ I’ll bet the lady was a vampire too.  _

_ — _

_ I saw a kid too! She was the sweetest thing! It was like five years ago. She just walked up to me and bit my arm, and then told me I couldn’t move cause she was hungry. It really doesn’t hurt, so I was more surprised than anything else, and I just let her until her dad (hopefully her dad) ran up and got her. He was so apologetic too, it was actually pretty cute.  _

_ — _

_ Cute??? You’re calling vampires cute now??? They kill people! _

_ — _

_ Not all of them! My mom was a vampire, and she was very nice! _

_ — _

Virgil set the phone down, sighing and rubbing his face. It made him exhausted, just reading through everything. But it was better than making more videos. 

As much as he recognized the need, and wanted to be actively helping, the nightmares that just the first one had sparked had led to him being in Patton’s bed almost all night. And he… he didn’t like that. Not that he disliked Patton’s company, it was actually the only thing soothing him back to sleep, the warmth, and grounding, and complete comfort. But he didn’t want Patton to think of him as a baby. And perhaps more than that, he didn’t want to think that way of himself. 

But still, there was that need. And it was more important than some nightmares and internal worries. So Virgil pushed himself up and went to ask Patton. With as much as he’d not wanted Patton before, now he just wanted it to be Patton, not Roman. 

When he saw Patton he had a sudden, impulsive thought. He bit down on his lip, not wanting to act on it, but also wanting to a lot, and still very indecisive when Patton turned around and saw him, thus cutting off his chance. 

“Hey, Virgil! What’s up?”

He gave Patton a crooked smile. “I thought I could try again with making the videos.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Patton said, somehow managing to look both encouraging and concerned at the same time. 

The set-up was still there, so really they just had to sit down and start recording. That should be easy. It wasn’t. Virgil kept adjusting the fabric slightly, and shifting things, and Patton kept helping him to straighten things out, until it became clear that without ironing, the sheets were never going to be perfectly smooth. Virgil frowned at them. 

“We don’t have to do this now, if you don’t want to,” Patton said softly.

The urge to cave in to that was so strong, so very strong, but… but this was bigger than him. He needed to do this. It didn’t even hurt him, it just brought up bad memories. 

“If-- um…” Virgil swallowed. “What if, if I do do this now… can I ask a favor?”

Patton smiled. “Of course you can. You can always ask favors.”

Virgil looked away, “Well it’s… it’s just a bit bigger than most favors.”

Patton looked almost concerned. “How about yes, but even if we don’t end up doing the video, or if we only do a little, you still tell me what it is, ok?”

Virgil smiled, almost chuckling. He didn’t really doubt that Patton would agree to his favor, he just… he felt like he needed that permission first.

And then he sat down in the middle of the sheets and Patton turned the phone camera on.

Virgil took a deep breath. “Alright. It’s like a conversation. Just like I’m telling you what happened.”

Patton nodded. 

Virgil leaned back a bit and pulled his shirt up to expose his stomach. It was still mottled and shiny in many places with intersecting scars. He took in another slow breath, fighting the urge to breathe faster. He’d never liked his stomach before, when he was a human, but he’d give anything to have that little twinge of dissatisfaction back instead of what he felt now when he looked at himself. 

“I… I should probably explain what a thrall is first,” he said, tearing his eyes away and looking up at Patton instead. “It’s where a vampire bites a human, and instead of drinking their blood, or sometimes also, they sort of mind-control them. Um… I didn’t know how to do it until a week or so ago, and I still can’t really control it. But… there was a hunter-- should I use names?”

Patton sort of shrugged. “Not ours, but sure.”

“Ok. There was a hunter named Liam Hart, and he came to a house where I was staying with a human. He thought… so the human was a hunter too, but he… likes me?”

Patton’s face suddenly became almost comical, ‘of  _ course  _ I like you!!’ written all over it.

Virgil smiled a bit, even with the intense anxiety rushing through him. “Anyway, because this hunter liked me, Liam Hart thought that I’d thralled him to force him to like me. And he…” it was getting harder to breathe again, past the lump swiftly rising in his throat. Virgil spoke very quickly, just wanting to get it over with. “He took us back to his house and he took Pa-- the other person inside where he couldn’t get out, and he took me into the--” he had to pause for a moment, getting more than a bit lightheaded. He didn’t dare look up at Patton again. If he did, Patton would interpret it as a cry for help and call the whole thing off. 

“He took me into the barn and I tried to fight back thenwhenIhadn’tbeforeandtherewerealotofthemandtheytiedmetothewalland-a-andputsilveronmeandI-c-couldn’tgetawayandIcouldn’ttakethethralloff-c-causethere _ was _ nothrall!” Virgil curled in on himself, tears he hadn’t noticed before dripping down onto the sheets. “I’m done.”

Patton straight up dropped the phone, dropping to his knees and stopping only just before he wrapped Virgil in a hug. “Is it ok to touch you right now?”

Virgil nodded, new tears springing up. Patton wrapped him in a tight hug.

“You did so well, Virgil. That was a very scary thing and you did it so well.”

“A-all I did was talk! And I couldn’t even do that!”

“You did. That video will make people think about what they’re doing. Really, really, think, and it’ll save lives, Virgil.”

Virgil just gripped Patton’s shirt, hiding his face in it and trying not to look at the many images flashing before his mind’s eye and trying to ignore the phantom burns. 

Patton just held him until Virgil loosened his grip on his own. “What was the favor you wanted?”

The sudden burst of embarrassment was almost welcome, in comparison to the previous feelings. “I… if I… well, first I promise I’d never bite you without asking first!”

Patton nodded. “I know you wouldn’t.”

Virgil almost blushed at such a simple and easy show of confidence. “Um… anyway… if I… like if I see you, and you don’t see me, or even if you do see me, just if you didn’t you might be worried and... “ Virgil sighed. “I can’t even talk straight. Can I hug you? Like from the back, as a surprise sometimes?”

Patton’s shift from confused and a bit worried to beaming smiles and happiness was something Virgil wouldn’t quickly forget, and Patton squeezed him tighter. “Of course you can!”

Virgil breath all went out in a rush and he started to laugh, laughing even more at Patton’s confused face. It seemed his laugh was contagious, because despite asking what they were supposed to be laughing at, Patton joined in after a moment.

  * •^*^••



Dee was fast. All vampires, by the time they were his age, had either an interest or a need, and developed some kind of power to fulfil it. He’d needed some way of escaping, and he’d run. And now he was fast. Probably faster than Remy, though Remy was far better than him in many other areas. 

And he wondered… well, if he went to go do something, could he finish before he was missed?

Because really, they needed someplace to stay. And as much as he’d wanted to hide away with just Thomas, he couldn’t deny that he’d gotten attached to the others. Even Remus. And he would need them to have somewhere safe to stay or he wouldn’t be able to truly settle. 

He wanted to find somewhere where all this violence and pain wasn’t happening, and find somewhere within that place where they could stay. 

But was there a place like that? And if there was, could he find it and get back before Thomas would get worried?

Perhaps…. He was almost sure to regret this, but he was going to ask Remus. Remus had been alive much longer, and if there was such a place he would know.

“Nope!” Remus said immediately, grinning. “People just hate people everywhere.”

“But--  _ why? _ ”

Remus shrugged. “How should I know?”

“But surely not  _ everyone! _ ”

Remus shrugged. “Yeah, probably not, but I’ve been around, and there’s at least enough mean ones to do some damage everywhere.”

Dee let out a frustrated huff. 

“Buuut,” Remus sang. “If we manage to get little Virgey’s story out there, maybe there will be a place where people just hate us, instead of trying to kill us!” He grinned, as if he’d said something that was actually comforting.

It wasn’t. Obviously.

“But if they still hate us then eventually it’ll circle back around to the killing!”

Remus shrugged. “Well, you know, we could always try and get on top. Let them be the ones in fear for a few hundred years.”

Dee scowled. “We’ve talked about this. If we try to get on top the humans will just fight back harder. Whether or not we win, that’ll be millions dead, on both sides.”

Remus shrugged. “Well, I know I’m not the only one thinking it.”

Dee sighed heavily. He  _ was  _ regretting coming to Remus now. 

And then Thomas woke up from his nap, which very nicely broke off any further conversation. 

  * •^*^••



Remy had an idea. It was a very fun idea. 

But first he had to call Roman. 

“Hey, Babes!”

“You want something.”

“What, not even a hello? Rude much?”

“Hello, Remy, what do you want?”

“If you weren’t an essential part of this plan I would hang up on you right now and you’d never get the pleasure of seeing it,” Remy said grumpily, though really, not much could dull his bright mood at the moment.

“Uh, huh. Ok, what is it?”

“I want you to get the babiest vampire blood drunk!”

Remy could hear the frown. “Now? Why? And I’m not sure he would even want to.”

“Cause everyone needs a good cheering up! Between you and Patty it’ll be easy, but you have to remember to video it. It’ll be hilarious!”

“Are… are you blood drunk right now?”

Remy frowned. “Maybe, but what does that matter?”

“Are Logan and Emile ok?”

“Now  _ that  _ is just  _ rude. _ ”

“Ok, yeah, it is. Sorry. As far as Virgil, why?”

“It’d be funny! It’s his first time anyway, and I’ll bet he hasn’t been human-drunk before, so it’ll be even better!”

“But what if it makes him more anxious? Getting drunk can do that to some people, it doesn’t make everyone happier.”

“This kind does, though,” Remy said with a smile and a nod.

“Can you be sure?”

“Of  _ course  _ I’m sure, Babes!”

“Alright. I’ll ask, but if he doesn’t want to then I’m not going to push it.”

“Oh, boo. Who just walks up and asks if you want to get drunk?”

“Me, apparently.”

Remy sighed. “Okaaay, fine, party pooper.” He hung up, pouting. Roman and Patton probably tasted too bad to drink enough to get drunk from anyway.

  * •^*^••



Roman set the phone down. It was awkward. On the one hand, that really could be fun and amusing, and a much needed relaxation. But on the other hand, how was he supposed to bring something like that up??

“Virgil?” he called. 

He couldn’t help but smile when instead of just Virgil, both he and Patton waddled in. Virgil had his arms wrapped around Patton’s waist, with his head resting on the back of his shoulder. 

“I heard your phone call,” Virgil said.

Roman rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed. He always forgot how much Virgil could hear. “Do you… have an opinion?”

Virgil shrugged, not letting go of Patton.

“What is it?” Patton asked.

“Remy wants us to get Virgil drunk on blood and film it.”

“Oh.” Patton’s voice had a slight note of ‘that could be gross’ along with the larger ‘but maybe fun?’.

“What do you guys think?” Virgil asked. 

Roman shrugged. “It could be funny, and from what Remy said, it’d be pretty fun for you too.”

“If you want to, Virgil, then go for it.”

Virgil shrugged again. “I just… don’t like the thought of being out of control.”

“I don’t think you would be out of control very much. Listening to Remy, he seemed to just have some lower inhibitions.” Roman said. 

“But what if I’m drinking, and I can’t stop myself?”

Patton hugged Virgil’s arms where they were wrapped around him. “Of all people and vampires I’ve ever seen, I think you would be the very last person to do something like that.”

Virgil flushed slightly, mumbling an embarrassed ‘thanks’. 

Roman turned on the phone’s camera and just left it on. “How much do you think you’d need to be full?”

Virgil’s flush deepened and he mumbled something Roman couldn’t hear. 

“Virgil, I thought you said you’d been taking as much as you need,” Patton gently admonished. 

Virgil hid his face in Patton’s back. “Cause I don’t  _ need  _ any more. I’m already biting you guys too much anyway.”

“Virgil, you’re literally cuddling Patton right now.” Roman said bluntly. “Clearly we don’t think that you’re biting us too much.”

“But I promised first that I wouldn’t bite him,” Virgil mumbled. 

“Really, we don’t mind,” Patton said. “Even if you didn’t promise I would’ve said yes. Even if you wanted this just so you could bite me easier I’d have said yes.”

“Can we just stop talking about it?” Virgil asked. “I’ll eat, and get full, and then I won’t have to bite you guys any more, and you can be happy cause I’m full.”

Just so the sort-of argument could end there, Roman said decisively, “That’ll work.”

  * •^*^••



It never stopped feeling awkward, having to drink from people, but it was more awkward cause they were expecting something from him. 

Virgil picked Roman first, mostly because he’d drunk from Patton last. And Roman was better at ignoring him anyway, which he much preferred. 

He drank until he felt almost full, though he checked at least three times to be sure he wasn’t taking too much. A pleasant warmth spread through him, and he’d really have been content to stop there, but Patton was still waiting. 

As he drank more, his head got a bit fuzzy, his skin just a bit tingly, and the warm feeling grew, bubbling up into slight laughter. And once he started, he could barely stop the giggles. 

He swamped Patton in a hug, and let out a long, happy hum when Patton squeezed him back. 

  * •^*^••



Thomas was cracking up laughing looking at his phone. “Dee! Dee, come—come look!”

Dee came and looked at his phone to see Virgil sitting on a couch, practically draped over Patton, grinning silly and singing. “You’re my dad! Boogie woogie woogie.”

Patton looked like he was about to start floating out of happiness, and Roman was snickering and egging Virgil on. 

“What’s another one, Virgil?”

Virgil turned to Roman, and waved at the camera. “Oh, hi, thanks for checking in, I’m ~still a piece of garbage~!”

“No, you’re not!” Patton protested. 

“Am too,” Virgil said, hugging close to Patton. “And you can’t be mad at me.” 

“Why can’t he, Virgil?” Roman asked, still snickering. 

“Cause I’m too cute to be mad at,” Virgil said, smiling up at Patton. 

Thomas covered his mouth, trying not to laugh louder than the sound from his phone. He was already shaking so much it was difficult to see. 

“Alright, yes you’re cute, but you can’t say that you’re garbage anymore,” Patton said. 

Virgil flopped to the side. “Roooo! Heeelp. Dad’s being mean.”

Thomas burst into loud laughter, and even Dee couldn’t help a chuckle. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	33. Chapter 33

He had an idea! He breathed a long sigh of relief. It was a possibility. 

Almost all of them had just been trying to please Liam Hart, just get him to find his kid and then hopefully he’d stop. He. Was. Terrifying. The… no, he wasn’t going to think about what all he’d seen Liam do. But Liam’s vengeance mission had gotten him to a position of power, and they all were holding various reports. They knew well enough nothing would happen until Liam’s vengeance was sated, but as soon, as  _ soon  _ as he had his son back, there were no less than fifty, and probably more than that, reports ready to be sent in. 

But to do that they had to help him find his son first.

And he’d finally had an idea. He honestly felt bad for Liam’s son, typing up the post. It seemed he didn’t  _ want  _ to be found. But he wasn’t letting that little bit of pity stop him. He was going to get Liam to stop terrorizing all the hunters in the state. And the vampires… it’d become a whispered, horrified bit of gossip, that Liam was ‘practicing’ on the captive vampires for when he caught the one thralling his son. He felt sick with fear for that one, but it’d spare so many others.

_ Whoever can help find the people in this video wins $100! _

He’d give 100. Heck, he’d give a thousand just to be transferred away from Liam Hart, but he’d much prefer doing this and getting Liam Hart out of the organization completely. 

It was a few days, and many, many comments later, that one looked promising. 

“Oh! I heard him! His voice is weird, so I recognized it. He was at the grocery store in my town!”

Poor town. He typed back, “What’s your town’s name?”

  * •^*^••



Virgil felt all light and happy. It was as if his fear had melted away the day before, and had yet to come back. He walked into the kitchen, and saw Patton making breakfast for himself and Roman. A rush of happiness ran through him, and he snuck up behind Patton very quietly before suddenly squeezing him in a hug. 

Patton jolted. “Ah! Oh, Virgil. You’re in a good mood, huh?”

Virgil leaned his forehead against Patton’s back, slackening his hug to a more gentle holding. “Mmhmm.”

Roman walked into the room, his presence loud and boisterous, even though he hadn’t yet made a sound. “Oh, what, now Patton gets all the hugs?”

Usually, Virgil would feel a mix of obligation to give Roman a hug too, and confusion as to why he would want one, but not this morning. He just turned to Roman, smirked, and stuck his tongue out. 

Roman gasped, clutching at his heart. “You wound me! Patton, did you see that?!”

Patton chuckled, “He’s behind me, I can’t see.”

“He stuck his tongue out at me! The rude little rascal!”

Virgil very nearly giggled. 

“And now he’s laughing at me! Patton, as his father, I demand you do something about that gremlin.”

The effects of being blood-drunk must have lingered longer than Virgil would have guessed, because he didn’t even feel embarrassed about snuggling closer to Patton, and saying in a voice with just a tinge of whine, “He likes me too much to tell me no.”

Both Patton and Roman burst out laughing, and Virgil soon followed. 

When they were finally done laughing, Roman ruffled up Virgil’s hair. “Eh, you’re too cute for me to tell you no either.”

Virgil grinned. “Ha! Teenager energy rules!”

  * •^*^••



Logan smiled at the video. Virgil had finished his spout of strange references, and was falling asleep in an awkward position, half draped over Patton. 

There was a slight sigh from Emile. “He deserves to get more chances at childhood. So much of it was taken from him.”

Logan nodded. “Ideally, I won’t say it’s likely, but ideally we’d be able to give him those chances after things calm down.”

Emile shook his head. “I’m not sure things will just ‘calm down’. They took a long time to get to where they are, and I don’t think they’ll just revert. I’m glad he can get some chance within all this craziness though.”

Logan nodded solemnly. “You may be right.”

“Alright, enough of the depressing, rewind this thing to where he nearly kicked Roman in the face!” Remy said, reaching for the phone.

  * •^*^••



It wasn’t like he’d forgotten the night before, but Virgil still blushed bright red, groaning loudly to drown out the sound as Roman practically forced him to watch the video.

“It’s not like I act like that all the time,” he said, pouting somewhat. 

“Exactly! That’s what makes it amazing! I guess I never really took you for a vine guy. I thought you’d be into horror or something edgy.”

Virgil scrunched down in his seat. “What’s wrong with both?”

“Ha! So I was right! Patton owes me five now.”

Virgil blushed harder. 

Roman swung an arm around his shoulder. “You wanna try finding one to watch tonight?”

Virgil’s embarrassment evaporated as he realized that Roman was serious. “I’m… not sure. I don’t know if I could watch horror anymore.”

Roman sobered. “Mm, yeah. What about something lighter, then? But of course, still matching that edgy aesthetic you keep trying to hold on to.”

While Roman thought, a movie popped up in Virgil’s mind, but he hesitated to say it out loud. He must be getting back to normal, since his inhibitions were slotting back into place. But this was Roman, actively trying to pick something he’d like. 

“Um… what about the Nightmare Before Christmas?”

Roman nodded immediately, a smile growing quickly. “Yes! That’d be it! We just have to find it now!”

Virgil couldn’t really hide his smile. 

  * •^*^••



Logan was just checking things, just in case. The map pulled up, slowly gaining dots as it loaded. And then Logan paled. 

He grabbed the phone, and called Roman first.

“Heya, Specs--”

“Roman! There’s a large group of hunters headed towards you! You have to get out of there!”

“What?! Ok. We’ll get out. Thanks.” Roman hung up. 

Logan called Thomas next. “I need another distraction. A big one.”

“What? Ok.”

“As fast as you can, somehow they must have been tipped off, and they’re heading towards Virgil.”

“Oh! We’ll get it as soon as we can. Should we head there after?”

“I… yes. Yes, go there after the distraction.”

“Alright.” Thomas also hung up, and Logan turned his attention to the map again, his heart sinking as he saw how quickly the group of hunters was moving. And how they were spreading out. They were trying to circle the mountain Virgil was on. 

“Remy! Remy, I need you to get to Virgil!”

  
  



	34. Chapter 34

Virgil heard something like a rumbling from very far away. It was small enough to be dismissed, but for some reason it was curling into a knot of anxiety in his belly, even as Roman was still all happy at having found the movie.

And then the phone rang, making him jump.

“Heya, Specs--” Roman said, his smile dropping as Logan yelled back.

_ “Roman! There’s a large group of hunters headed towards you! You have to get out of there!” _

“What?! Ok. We’ll get out. Thanks.” 

Virgil was frozen in place, petrified, until Patton grabbed his arms. “Virgil, honey, stay with us, ok?”

Virgil nodded, running out with them to the car, but he was having a hard time paying attention to anything but the growing rumble, which he now knew had to be the hunters in their cars. It rang in his ears, the threat overwhelming. 

They got into the car, Roman driving, and Virgil curled into a ball on the floor in the back, struggling to breath evenly, despite the soft, kind words Patton was trying to get him to listen to. 

  * •^*^••



Liam was always terrifying, but the sheer palpable threat radiating off of him had everyone in the car shrinking back. Those of them who’d agreed to wear secret cameras were regretting it already, feeling as if he could see the cameras somehow, and terrified of what would happen if he decided to be angry about them. 

But they did have the cameras, and the reports. And as soon as Liam’s vengeance was spent, before he could get back to headquarters, he’d be done for. There was  _ no way  _ that he’d be anything but fired, and he’d probably, hopefully, be arrested as well. And hopefully, with his burning need for revenge gone, and with his son safe, he’d be drained enough to not be able to get out of it. 

“I swear,” he growled, making everyone cringe. “If you don’t speed up I will take control of this car myself.”

The man in the driver’s seat paled, and then nodded silently, pressing the pedal down to the floor and trying to keep the car straight, his face a mask of fear.

  * •^*^••



Emile watched Logan pace, biting hard on his knuckles. And really, he couldn’t blame him. He was only just barely keeping it together himself. 

Virgil had been full and happy and joking just last night! And now… Emile couldn’t even very hopefully say that he’d be alright. He buried his head in his hands, hiding his face and taking slow, deliberate breaths.

“I’ve got to do  _ something _ !” Logan said, his voice cracking. 

Emile looked up at him, clenching his fists hard and staring at his computer, on which they could still see the growing circle. It was closing in, and getting more and more dense. All the roads were now covered, and the spaces between them were beginning to be filled. 

“Emile, what can I  _ do? _ ”

Emile didn’t have an answer. He tried to think about it, but it seemed all he could think about was how the hunters were getting closer and closer to Virgil. He just shook his head, hoping that Remy was able to do something more than they could.

  * •^*^••



Dee and Remus needed to cause some kind of problem, and fast, and then get to Virgil. 

Remus seemed to know exactly where to go, and Dee followed, crashing heedlessly through the door of the building he pointed out and just destroying everything in sight as fast as possible. He tried not to hit anything living, but by the powerful smell of blood it was clear that Remus was not at all holding to the same moral.

Dee didn’t know what he was doing anymore. He didn’t know where he was, and he didn’t know why. He just knew he was breaking. Breaking and hitting and destroying. Pain ran up his arms and legs, and he felt them heal, and then charged forward again. 

“There you go! I knew you had a little crazy in you!” Remus cheered, and Dee spared a glance in his direction, seeing him absolutely covered in blood. 

It made him stop. “Did you kill them?”

Remus shrugged, his eyes seeming to be lit with fire as he grinned and let out an insane laugh.

“This is good enough. Let’s get to Virgil.”

Remus didn’t move until Dee did, but when Dee started running he followed.

Dee wished they were closer. It was going to take time to get to Virgil, despite running as fast as he could.

  * •^*^••



“Hold on!”

Roman only barely managed to turn the car around in time. He was flooring it, and very nearly crashed straight into one of the many cars on the road, all coming in his direction. But he did manage to turn, which flung Patton and Virgil into the side of the car, and he drove in the opposite direction. 

He could hear Virgil having a panic attack despite all Patton was trying to do to help. 

“I’ll get us out of here. Don’t worry, Virgil, I’ll get us out.” Roman said firmly.

But from Virgil he only heard a choking sob. 

Roman drove faster, pressing the pedal down hard and trying to keep as straight as possible so he wouldn’t flip the car. 

Until he saw more cars in the distance.  _ How had Liam gotten so many?! _

He slowed down some, turning and driving left, trying to find a gap large enough to drive through. It was difficult, especially since the cars were still moving, getting closer and closer. 

And then they started shooting. 

  * •^*^••



Remy was almost there. He could see them in the distance. He just had to get there, and find where they were. 

He reached the cars, parked in a long line, whipping off his glasses and thralling the first person he saw with his gaze, not bothering to hold back as he usually would.

“Where are they?”

Many voices answered at once, strained with the intensity of his thrall. “That way.”

Remy ran in the direction they were pointing, only the briefest thought spared towards hoping that their minds weren’t permanently damaged.

  * •^*^••



Roman had to stop. He didn’t dare stop. But if he didn’t he was going to hit something, and at the speed they were moving, it would surely be fatal. But as soon as he stopped the hunters could get to them. 

And then a car drove out right in front of him, and there were cars on the right and trees on the left, and he had no choice but to slam on the brakes. Somehow he had remembered to put on a seatbelt, and he was sure that if he hadn’t he would’ve gone flying into the windshield right then. 

There was a thump, and a groan that sounded like Patton. 

Hunters were getting out of cars. So many it was nearly a swarm. They were running towards Roman’s car. He hit the lock button, unwilling to start the car again and run them over. 

But when they couldn’t get in someone got a hammer and bashed in the window. 

“Patton, get Virgil out!” Roman yelled, trying to shove the hunters away. 

But there were far more of them than there was of him, and they pulled the door open and pulled him out, and despite his struggling and hitting and kicking and even biting, he was shoved to the ground, arms pulled back into handcuffs and several heavy bodies sitting on him and holding him down. 

He didn’t see what happened with Patton and Virgil, but he heard Patton yelling. 

“No! Let him GO!! Get away!”

And then a bloodcurdling scream, layered somehow both with Virgil’s voice and what sounded like many others, sending ice into Roman’s blood and terror into his heart. 

It seemed to have the same effect on the rest of the hunters, and for a long minute that was the only sound, everything else frozen. 

And then a gunshot, and the scream cut off. 

  * •^*^••



There was a whole clot of them, and Remy didn’t know what to do. Anything he told them to do, he wouldn’t be able to stop Roman and Patton from doing it too. They had to be there. And then he heard the scream. 

He let out a mental command for everyone to be still, but he could feel that it wasn’t working. Not quite. Something was wrong. 

  * •^*^••



“Get over here!”

“But sir, Liam Hart—“

“You think I give a damn about Liam Hart?! We  _ need  _ backup, now get your men and get  _ over here! _ ”

“Yes sir.”

He radioed his men, “Turn around, we have to get back to base, there’s an attack!”

But, oddly enough, despite him calling several more times, the dots on his radar representing his men closest to Liam Hart weren’t turning back. They were still there in a clump. 

He let out a frustrated growl. “Look, I’m doing my best, I’m headed there with most, and the rest will come in a bit.”

“Just get over here before there isn’t a here to get back to!” A different voice, far more terrified than angry, yelled. 

  * •^*^••



She was wearing a camera. She had to stick near Liam. Had to be a witness. And she  _ hated  _ it. 

She didn’t know all that much about vampires, the job had just been for ‘easy’ money, but even she could feel the tension in the air, the crackle of energies. From Liam, both making his own people cower away from him, and pushing them into a frenzy of attack against the vampires. And from the vampires in the middle, fear and anger mingled. 

And then the scream. And with it a feeling as if someone was pressing down hard on her head. 

She watched in horror as Liam pulled a gun out. 

_ No! Not in a crowd like this! Even a little off and you’ll hit someone!  _ She wanted to scream, but the words caught in her throat. 

Liam fired, and the scream cut off abruptly. She couldn’t see. Had he died? Or had he just stopped?

Liam stepped forward, the hunters parting for him to pass, and she tried to follow, shoving past person after person. 

He was still pointing the gun in front of him. He had two bullets in that gun, and there was one left. She pushed past enough to see a… child. This was the vampire they were chasing. But unlike his picture, which had somehow made him seem older, this was clearly a child, only somewhere mid—teens. He was writhing on the ground, clutching his stomach with blood running out between his fingers. Gasping, his face contorted with pain and fear, nothing like what she’d always envisioned a vampire to be like. 

Someone else screams, a wordless howl of anger, and Liam cocks his gun. 

“No! No, Dad, stop!!!”

She turns away from Liam to see his son, struggling against men trying to hold him back. 

“As much as you deserve a slow, painful death,” Liam growled, glaring at the vampire. “I’m  _ not _ going to let you have the chance for another surprise rescue.”

A jerking movement and a screech draw her attention as Liam’s son breaks free and runs to stand in front of the vampire, and Liam fires, his son crumpling. 

The gasp runs throughout the whole crowd, and Liam’s face morphs from anger into horror. 

The vampire screams.  **_“Patton!!”_ **

It’s far louder than any natural scream, layered and echoed and almost all at once the whole crowd drops to their knees, holding their hands over their ears. 

She pressed the button, and the video sent back to headquarters. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil pulled himself closer to Patton, fear overwhelming whatever pain he’d been feeling. 

“Patton! Patton, no! No, no, please! Patton, please!” 

Patton grabbed his hand. “I’ll be fine, kiddo.”

He wouldn’t. Virgil knew he wouldn’t. He was so very pale already, and blood was leaking out of his chest, far, far too close to his heart. 

Virgil set his hand over the bullet-hole, pressing down and praying that it was the right thing to do. “Patton, don’t, you can’t. You  _ have  _ to stay!”

Patton’s face contorted into what looked like it was meant to be a smile. “I’m not leaving, don’t worry.”

“I can’t lose you!” Virgil sobbed, leaning down close to Patton. 

Patton wrapped his arms up around him. “You’re not… not going to…”

Oh, God, he couldn’t breathe!

“Someone get a doctor!” Liam roared. 

“Dad…” Patton said breathlessly. 

Liam came near them, and Virgil cringed away from him, but didn’t let up the pressure. Patton let go of Virgil with one hand, and held it out to his dad. Liam grabbed his hand, tears running down his face. 

“Don’t… don’t hurt Virgil,” Patton said, and there was blood, blood on his lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Patton,” Liam said, and his voice hitched. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I never meant to hit you!”

Patton’s chest shook in something like a cough, and blood leaked out between Virgil’s fingers. 

“Virgil?” His voice was slurred painfully, and his eyes moved slowly to lock onto Virgil’s. 

Virgil nodded, his throat too closed up to speak. He couldn’t lose Patton. He couldn’t. He really, really couldn’t. 

“Can you… turn me?”

Before Virgil could even process the question Liam was shoving him away. “ _ NO! _ You aren’t leaving me just to be some shell of yourself for him! The doctors are coming, just hold on, ok?”

Patton coughed again, a trickle of blood falling from the corner of his mouth, and blood oozing out of the uncovered hole in his chest. “Dad…”

And then suddenly Remy was there, grabbing Liam and pulling him away, holding him tight where he couldn’t reach his weapons. 

“Help Patton, Virgil! I’ve got him!” He shouted over the growls and curses pouring from Liam’s mouth. 

Virgil didn’t know what to do. He didn’t. It was… it was supposed to be like a thrall… he couldn’t even do that right! What if he hurt Patton?!? He couldn’t!!

Patton turned his head just enough to look at him, his eyes glazing over, and Virgil knew he didn’t have a choice. If he didn’t, Patton would die. 

He covered the wound again, hoping to keep as much blood as possible inside Patton, and bent over his neck. 

There was the thrall. Now almost familiar. But he didn’t know what to do now. 

_ Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t die.  _ **_Please!_ ** _ Don’t die, Patton. Please, please, just stay with me! _

For a minute, Patton went still, and Liam screamed. 

“You  _ killed _ him!”

Virgil shook, clinging to Patton desperately. 

And then Patton gasped, and coughed, rolling onto his side and spitting out blood. 

“Patton!!! Patton, Patton, you’re alive!” Virgil sobbed, and clutched at Patton in a tight hug. 

Patton hugged him back just as tight. “I am. Told you I wasn’t leaving.”

Virgil sobbed. So, so many emotions pushing their way out in a wail. Patton held him tight, arranging the two of them so he could wrap Virgil in a closer hug. 

  * •^*^••



Dee and Remus were standing guard, keeping the hunters back away, but as they started to ‘wake up’, they didn’t seem to have any inclination to bother Patton and Virgil. 

An ambulance drove up, sirens blaring. 

Remus met them first, bristling. “Listen to me  _ first _ . The humans are all fine. We have two vampires hurt, they’re going to need blood, and probably have silver bullets dug out of them. If you aren't willing to do that, then you turn around right now.”

The paramedics looked at each other, and then back at Remus. “We can do that.”

“You try  _ anything,  _ and you’ll wish you’d never seen a vampire in your  _ life. _ ” Remus threatened, but let them pass. 

Virgil and Patton didn’t want to let go of each other. 

Dee knelt next to them, setting a hand gently on each of them. “Please, we promise we won’t try to separate or hurt you. Let us help you.”

Patton nodded first, loosening his grip on Virgil. 

“Just a few minutes, please, Virgil,” Dee said gently, carefully. New Sires and their Sired tended to be extremely volatile. 

Virgil turned to look at him, tears streaming down his face. “I’m not leaving.”

“Of course not. Just let us treat Patton, let us help him.”

Virgil shifted his grip to Patton’s hand. 

Dee and Remus had to hold Patton down, as he wasn’t used to his new strength yet, and flailed in pain as the paramedics tried to help. 

Virgil nearly went ballistic, only barely holding it together. “You’re hurting him!”

“Soon, Virgil. Just a little longer. Trust us, please.” 

And Liam wasn’t helping things with all he was yelling. 

The paramedics tried to be fast, and finally finished pulling the bullet out, after which the hole closed quickly. 

“There, Virgil, Patton will be alright. Can you lay down, please? We need to help you too.”

But Virgil wouldn’t, until Patton asked him, holding tight to his hand. 

Virgil’s was easier to pull out, since it was in his stomach, and there weren’t bones in the way. If he had been human, the shot would’ve been fatal, and so probably would’ve the process of getting the bullet out. But thankfully he wasn’t human any longer, and they just had to hold him down until it was over. 

As soon as they were allowed Virgil and Patton locked back into a tight hug. 

Dee looked around at the hunters, but they were trying to find their cars and beginning to drive away. Everything was… sort of fine… for about half an hour, and most of the hunters had left. 

But then a police car drove up. Dee and Remus stood in front of Patton and Virgil, ready to protect against anything the police might try. 

But the man who stepped out didn’t look like a normal cop. 

“I’ve come to arrest Liam Hart. A video of the proceedings has been sent out to several government organizations, and you’ve been granted a temporary pardon. As long as you don’t cause trouble, we’ll leave you alone.”

Dee’s eyes went wide. This was  _ not  _ what he’d expected. “Thank you.”

The man just nodded curtly. 

It took both him and his partner to wrestle Liam into the backseat of the car, and then they just drove away. Just like that. Gone. 

And… and everything was ok. 

  * •^*^••



Remy found a central location. A house big enough for all of them. He didn’t quite believe that nothing was going to happen, and stayed standing on the porch, leaning against the wall by the door and watching intently for any signs of anyone trying to approach. 

The door opened, and Emile slipped out, leaning on the wall next to him and half leaning on him. 

“They’re all cuddled up in a pile.”

Remy snorted. “Even Remus?”

“It seems he quite enjoys cuddling, though I did have to convince him to keep his clothes on.”

Remy managed half a smile. “That sounds like something you’d enjoy.”

Emile shrugged. “Not more than I enjoy spending time with you.”

Remy sighed. “I’m not coming in yet. I don’t believe it’s just over like this.”

Emile shook his head. “No, I don’t think it’s over. But the sweep is over, and Liam’s in jail. Dee even ran to make sure, and he’s actually in jail. I don’t think anyone will try to hurt us tonight.”

Remy softened his pose, and wrapped an arm around Emile’s shoulders. “Alright. I’m going to keep watch though.”

Emile smiled up at him. “You know, I love that you’re so protective.”

Remy blushed. “You’ve… said something like that before.”

“Can I bring out blankets and pillows and keep watch with you?”

Remy knew well Emile would fall asleep in an hour or less, but he still nodded. 

  * •^*^••



Virgil woke up slowly, warmth all around him. Logan was laying along his back, and he was tucked close to Patton’s chest. Roman was using his calves as a pillow, and Thomas and Dee were curled up right nearby. He could faintly heard soft snores from the porch, and guessed that Emile was out there with Remy still. 

He wasn’t sure that everything would stay good. But right now? It was very, very good. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of the main story. 
> 
> It’s not quite over and done with! I fully intend to write bonus chapters, both set in the future and in the past, and I’ll even accept suggestions!
> 
> Bonus chapters I want to write:
> 
> What exactly is Remy and Emile’s relationship?
> 
> How did Dee meet Thomas?
> 
> Patton’s a vampire now. That means... drinking blood? Ew.
> 
> What happens to Virgil’s online presence?
> 
> So are they just going to stay out of trouble and accept the pardon? Or are they going to do things still?
> 
> Subscribe to the series to see the bonus chapters as they come out!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this far! If you leave me comments I will love you forever!


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